Manuscripts

Sir (James William) Ronald Macleay (1870-1943) was educated at Charterhouse and Balliol College, Oxford. He entered the diplomatic service in 1895. According to his obituary in The Times, 8 March 1943, Macleay 'achieved much' in 'an unostentatious way', during a diplomatic career spanning four decades, and was known by his colleagues as 'the Worthy Master'.

Evelyn Emily Peel (c.1869-1960), second daughter of Sir Robert Peel, 3rd Bart (1822-1895), and Lady Emily Hay, daughter of the Marquess of Tweeddale, married the diplomat Sir (James William) Ronald Macleay (1870-1943) in 1901. Compiled in the years preceding her marriage, the album reflects Evelyn Peel's energetic and playful personality, and her position as a member of late-Victorian Conservative high society.

The three items derive from the Bilainkin papers. Each is separately paginated and stapled, with the text on one side only of the leaves. All three in good condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper, with rusty staples. Item One: Titled 'ADD 1960 DIARY. Saturday, July 23.' 7pp., foolscap 8vo. With carbon copy of the same.

192pp., 8vo., on 188 letterheads of the Village of Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Irregularly paginated to 179d. Six pages (6, 8, 9, 10, 13, 17) are lacking, but the missing text is supplied in an accompanying typescript, with two carbon copies, of the first 31pp. of the manuscript, each of the three copies being 11pp., 8vo. The author of this memoir, Arthur Gilbert Bedell (b.c.1851), was printer and proprietor, with his brothers Edwin Bedell and George Canfield Bedell, of the Westchester Times.

Bilainkin had a particular interest in Yugoslavia, and these items date from around the time of the publication of his 'Four Weeks in Yugoslavia' in 1947, and biography of Tito two yeas later. The collection is in fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with loss to the third item. Item One. Extract from undated typescript, presumably by Bilainkin. 9pp., foolscap 8vo. Paginated in pencil 56-64 and with a few pencil emendations.

The six illustrations and seven pages of text totalling 13pp., 4to (22.5 x 18cm), on seven leaves of laid paper removed from an album. On aged brittle paper, with chipping and slight loss to the edges. The illustrations are simple sketches, indicating the layout of the page, with titles and occasional words of text by Sullivan. Five of the six designs are for the Pall Mall Budget: 'The Thumbmark by H. G. Wells' (28 June 1894), thumbmarks around title and a newspaper seller with headline reading 'Anarchist Outrage'; 'The Stolen Bacillus by H. G.

[1] + 26pp., foolscap 8vo. On twenty-seven leaves held together with a brass stud. In good condition, on aged and worn paper. The covering page is headed with the embossed government letterhead (lion and unicorn in oval) and has the words 'Mediterannean Tour | January, 1946' in the centre, with the signature 'Alec Clifton-Taylor' in blue ink in the bottom right-hand corner. The twenty-six pages of text, carrying a few minor autograph corrections by Clifton-Taylor, are headed with the full title.

Good condition. Paper Boards. A difficult hand. Diary entries variable in length, many full, some days blank. The Diaries chronicle his life at the Church of Holy Trinity (in.c football for Coventry City and Stoke), and the years (some First World War) serving his father-in-law, the Bishop of Truro. Subjects: [1904] services; journeys; preaching; litany; helping parishioner write letter; sermons; finances; schools; dinners; meetings; asked to play for Coventry City (1904", 'to raise tone of the team'); travels - mainly local (walking distance to Stoke, Rugby etc - initially c.

The three items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed from Lytton to Keedick. 19 June 1914. 4pp., 12mo. On bifolium. He apologises for the delay in replying, caused by 'a bad attack of hay fever which has almost incapacitated me'. He regrets to say that 'it will be impossible for me to do what you wish namely to enter into a contract with you immediately to deliver 30 lectures in the U.S.A. & Canada next year about November, because it is possible that before that date I might obtain some work which would prevent me leaving this country'.

Three items: the full article, the beginning of an earlier draft, and an annotated table. All in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Unusually, the article is not written from a British point of view, but rather in praise Jung's achievements from within Hyderabad itself (the author refers to 'the results we have here obtained'). Despite complaining of what he calls the 'scant records have come down to us', the author is able to present his case with a deal of economic information.

At the outbreak of the Flagstaff War, Robertson-Macdonald was serving as Commander of HMS Hazard. On 11 March 1845 he was severely wounded while leading the defence of the town of Kororarika (now Russell) from 'the attack of an overwhelming body of natives', resulting in the loss of six of his men. The three transcripts that form Item One below relate to this action, and were presumably made out by the Admiral himself towards the end of his life, in a shaky hand and with a number of errors.

1p., 4to (22.5 x 18cm). On laid paper. In fair condition, aged and with slight chipping. The sketches are crude but attractive, headed with a line of three girls in black stockings and petticoats shaking a leg, with the phrase 'The poppy' in the top left-hand corner, and a line of girls at the foot, with an oriental male figure with cane in the background, captioned 'Mamma's Alabama Coon'. Two sketches of the 'Shepherdess' at bottom right, with usual broad-brimmed hat and crook. Hattie Starr's 'Little Alabama Coon' took London by storm in 1894.

‘Quite a singular person’: The ‘delicate improprieties’ of Richard Blake BrownLiterary Papers, 1916-1968The present collection of the literary papers of gay writer Richard Blake Brown – novels, plays, poetry, travel writing and memoirs – consists of nearly 200 items, including:50 notebooks of autograph manuscripts;38 volumes of bound typescripts;39 unbound typescripts;2 autograph booklets;one unbound autograph manuscript;with around 60 miscellaneous items and seven of Brown’s published novels (five with annotations and extra material inserted).Richard Blake Brown (1902-1968) – hereafter RBB –

The four items (copy of typescript of Belcher's memoir; autograph letter from Belcher to Mills; copies of two typed letters from Mills to Rosie Llewellyn-Jones), from the Frank Mills papers, are all in good condition. The copy of the typescript is 47 + [5] pp., 8vo, including title-page, two-page contents, preface and full-page map, on 52 loose leaves; Belcher's letter to Mills is 2pp., 8vo; the copies of Mills's two letters to Llewellyn-Jones are each 1p., 12mo.

The fifteen items in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, laid down or pinned to leaves removed from an album. Items One to Three: three black and white landscape photographs, each around 15 x 20 cm. The first photograph, captioned 'November 1940', shows Ross standing in a field, in front of a platoon in two columns, shouldering rifles with bayonets. The second photograph, captioned '7. C. Coy of Batt., Herts Home Guard 1943', shows twenty-six officers, in three rows, in front of the entrance to a municipal building. The front row, seated, consists of seven senior officers with batons.

1p., 4to. On a piece of watermarked laid paper. Aged, and with chipping and loss along the fold lines, which have been repaired on the reverse with (nineteenth-century?) tape. The words 'Cromwells Protector' in a later hand at the head of the reverse, which is otherwise blank. Accompanied by a autograph transcript (3pp., foolscap 8vo) by Beamont, 'Copied from the original Mar. 15, 1878', and an Autograph Letter (2pp., 12mo) from him to 'Miss Blackburne', on letterhead of Orford Hall, Warrington, also dated 15 March 1878. Beamont begins his letter: 'I return your paper with a transcript.

The two items are in very good condition, on lightly aged paper. Item One: Secretarial Letter, in French, by 'C Vaublanc', Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc (1756-1845), 'Le Ministre Secretaire d'Etat de L'Intérieur' [French Minister of the Interior]. Paris, 13 April 1816. He is sending the 'fac simile De la Lettre de notre Infortunée Reine', and in order to dispel any doubts as to authenticity has initialled the foot of the third page.

Two documents, with covering leaf (1p., 8vo) carrying the following note by the recipient: 'Advice from John Blackburne of Orford - to his grandson J B of Hale & Orford 1770'. The first document is 2pp., 8vo.; the second 5pp., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper, with wear and chipping to extremities. Both documents in the elder Blackburne's remarkably neat and close hand, with occasional emendations. Both document with 'By my Grandfather' by the recipient at the end.

1p., landscape 12mo. On aged and lightly-creased laid paper ('PRO PATRIA' watermark), with chipping to extremities. On reverse, in another hand: 'At Northampton a Monument at the Inn'.

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Item One: Pencil inventory of 'RB | Select Books' - i.e. volumes of drawings by Richard Batty, dated June 1919. 3pp., 8vo, with separate inventory on last page headed 'Book of Engravings | In Drawing Room'. Bifolium. The first item in the list of 'Select Books' reads 'no Cover 1817 April Lyons Genoa Florence Rome (May) to 24 June'. Last entry on p.3: '1832 IV, thick 26 Decr Dawlish & 23 Jany | Coaxden [sic] Hall May 23 | Chard Torquay (July) Plymouth Falmouth | Lands End St Michaels M[oun]t 15 July 1833'.

32pp., 16mo. On the rectos of the leaves of 16 bifoliums, attached with a brass stud. Unbound. In fair condition, on worn discoloured paper. At head of first page: 'Miss Laura Batty | Ridgmount House | 140 Hampstead Road | N.W.' Initials 'L. P.' at end. The memoir begins: 'Very familiar to many who have travelled in the Lake District must be the Monument Ulveston erected by public subscription to the memory of the late John Barrow. | Some who read this brief sketch compiled from his Autobiography [Footnote: 'Sir John Barrow's Autobiography | J.

9pp., 12mo. In makeshift unbound pamphlet, made up of six bifoliums pinned together. In good condition, on aged and lightly-worn paper. While short, the account is vivid, its first-person account of a whirlwind Regency romance evoking the inevitable comparison with Jane Austen. Written with the long s, the journal begins: 'On Monday July 31st.

The three items are all in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight marking from rusty paperclips. Manuscript: 13pp., 4to. On 13 leaves, paginated 1-13. With a few emendations and corrections. The two typescripts, both well typed, have different layouts to one another. First (smaller) Typescript: 9pp., 4to. Second (larger) Typescript: Carbon copy. 9pp., 4to. The article begins: '"The iniquity of oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy . . .

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight rust spotting. Manuscript: 12pp, 4to. On twelve leaves, paginated 1-12. With emendations and corrections. Note at head of page: 'Dates & title meant to be typical only: subject to revision from collection catalogue etc & to fit later details of book.' Also at head of page, in red pencil: 'Aquatint collection draft first chapter'. Manuscript: 9pp., 4to. On nine leaves attached with stud (last leaf loose).

Memoranda and Swann's letter on the same bifolium, 4pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged paper and with minor evidence of previous mounting. On the recto of the first leaf is Swann's letter, 'For Mr J.

1p., 4to. In good condition, on a lightly aged and worn leaf removed from an album. The poem is twenty lines long, arranged in five four-line stanzas. The first stanza reads 'Dear Sister, Christian Heroine! | Stranger to me thy form & voice - | I venerate that zeal of thine, | And while I blush, for thee rejoice'. The second stanza is somewhat heretical: 'Nor Male nor Female is in Him | Who Born of Woman, both hath sav'd: | She conquers every terror grim, - | She thousand deaths for Him has brav'd!' The third stanza begins: '"A woman slew him:" Gideon'ss son'.

On a 4to leaf removed from an album, with Bennett's piece on one side of the leaf, and Gray's on the other. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with a short closed tear to the fore-edge. Bennett's note reads: 'Dearest Brethren, ye know how that a good while ago, God made desire among us, that the Gentiles, from my mouth, should hear the word of the Gospel & believe. And God, who knoweth the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us: put no difference between us & them, purifying their hearts, by faith'.

Duncan Murray Gordon was born in 1912, the son of a commercial traveller. In 1927 he won a scholarship to Stott's College, Melbourne, and in August 1940 he began a clerical job at the Victorian mining company Broken Hill South Ltd. He served in the Second World War between March 1941 to July 1946, in both the AMF (Australian Military Forces) and AIF (Australian Imperial Force) in Australia and New Guinea (where he finds, as the second volume of the diary reveals, the only way to survive is ‘to find somebody to go mad with’).

Totalling 5pp., 4to, with Seward's poem on the first 3pp., and Hayley's on the following 2pp. Disbound from a notebook. In good condition, on lightly-aged and worn paper which has been cropped at the foot, resulting in the loss of two lines of text from Hayley's poem, and with the strip with the trimmed line from the foot of the first page of Seward's poem laid down at the head of the second page.

The twelve items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. They probably derive from Richard Twining (1807-1906), editor of 'Selections from the Papers of the Twining Family' (1887). ONE: Autograph Letter Signed, in a very shaky hand, from Rev. Thomas Twining, 'ffor Mr. Thomas Twining at the golden Lyon in Davaraux [sic] Court by Temple Barr | London | [signed] Frank Williamson'. [1717.] Postscript: 'I beg you because I have not Leisure now to write to him, to wait on Mr Hen.