Manuscripts

One page, folio, foxed, four small tears with no textual loss, fold marks, text legible and complete. It refers to the order for the examination being given by Admiral Sir Josias Rowley, gives details of his career in the Royal Navy (ship, entry, discharged, time, etc columnised), mention of certificates from his Captains (see #s9958-9962 in my inventory), statement of his competence, signed by three examining Captains naming their ships (Bellerophon , Samuel Jackson, Revenge, William Elliott, and Asia, William Fisher.

One page, c.18 x 11cm, trimmed, some foxing, but text clear and complete. As Commander of he Sapphire, he's certifying that H. A. Norman served as College Volunteer on the Sapphire from 10 Oct. 1832 to [15 Jan. 1833] with diligence, sobriety, etc.

One page, 20 x 16cm, some staining, but text clear and complete. As Commander of he Orestes he's certifying that Henry A. Norman served as midshipman on the Sloop Orestes from 7 Dec. 1835 to the date hereof and conducted himself with diligence, sobriety & attention, and was always obedient to command.

Seven lines, one page, c.18 x 12cm, some staining, but text clear and complete. As Commander of he Wincheser, he's certifying that Henry A. Norman served as midshipman on the Winchester from 6 Jan. to 12 June 1833 and behaved with diligence, attention and sobriety, & was always obedient to command.

One page, c.19 x 23cm, some foxing, but text clear and complete. As Commander of he Sapphire, he's certifying the Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy that H. A. Norman served as College Volunteer of the Ist Class on Sapphire and conducted himself with Diligence, Sobriety, etc.

C.32 x 41cm, part Latin, mainly English, closed tear and minor loss on fold marks. Presumably one of the copies ordered to be delivered to the High Constable and other JPs. The first few Latin lines give occasion (Quarter Sessions), place, date, and names of officers of the Court (Justices of the Peace presumably), including John Wedgwood, of the Pottery Family, Francis Elde (Stafford M.P.), and Joseph Girdler, MP in the First British Parliament.

Indenture, 55 x 35cm, some damage at folds but mainly good, text clear and complete. It gives information about the court including the people who were to enquire into the murder, all of whom have signed the document. The Coroner was John Cattlow. A person unknown had poisoned some bread with white arsenic.

Striking vellum document, 60 x 75 cm. Docketed on reverse. 32 lines of text, ruled with red lines, with ornate engraved decorative border along three sides, headed in large letters 'Victoria by the Grace of God', and depicting the young Queen, the royal crest, a crown held by a cherub, blind justice, and other images. Tax stamp in margin and frayed ribbon at foot. On 9 September [V Geo.

One page, c.19.5 x 24cm, laid down on larger page, spotted and dulled but attractive, with text and illustration (Glasgow coat-of-arms augmented). Text: (MS in square brackets] No. [9] Glasgow [17th Feby] 17[69] | [William Shortrige (sic) Merchant in Glasgow] is this day admitted a Member pf the GLASGOW RENFREWSHIRE Society, having paid dues accordingly. [John Hamilton] Preses. | [James Shaw] Collector.

Folio, 2 pp. On first leaf of bifolium. Neatly written out by a secretary and signed by Curtis and 'W. H. Brown, acting secretary'. Headed 'By Sir Lucius Curtis, Bt. CB. Rear Admiral of the Red Second in Command of H.M. Ships and Vessels, on the Mediterranean Station and Senior Officer during the Absence of the Commander in Chief on Special Service.' Directing Norman to join 'Her Majesty's Surveying Vessel Bonetti' as Lieutenant, 'until the pleasure of Vice Admiral Sir William Parker the Commander in Chief shall be known'

"Nature Note Book", 24pp. used, card covers slightly damaged, 4to, from the formation on 17 Nov. 1919, later meetings on: 26 July 1920, 19 Nov. 1920, January 1921, 10 & 19 Jan. 1921 (Rules Committee), 27 Jan. 1921, 3 Feb. 1921, 22 Feb. 1921,information about members, committee members, aims publicity etc. ENCLOSED: 1. Membership Card of the Stourbridge and District Citizens' League, being the Stourbridge Branch of the British Empire Union, not filled in. 2.

8vo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Docketed on reverse 'pour agit | Salles'. Initial bill of eleven items, from '1 jour de Logement 36 [francs]' to café et thé 12 [francs]', amounting to 306 francs. According to the Oxford DNB, 'In April 1814, with Napoleon on his way to Elba, Keith was at La Rochelle supervising the embarkation of Wellington's army for its return to England. He was back at Plymouth on 29 July and hauled down his flag.' This is added to a running bill for 8027 francs, with two extra items (including 'Domestiques'), making a total of 8618 francs.

Landscape 8vo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Fair on aged vellum. Engraving of royal crest in top left-hand corner. Printed in small type and completed in manuscript. Three witnesses, including 'Rich. Robinson' and 'Walt: Robins'. Red wax seal of head, and government stamp on blue. Brief modern notes accompanying the item state that the elder Shaw was born in 1685, the son of the headmaster of Lichfield Grammar School (Johnson's old school), who died in 1704. There is no record of anything published by the Shaws, who do not feature in BBTI.

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Neatly and closely written. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Evaluations of the conduct of more than thirty families, from a staunchly Bourbon point of view. First entry: 'Lorraine. Des sentiments trés pur. Ils quitterent ce Pais et furent trouver l'Empereur, qui les Emploie dans ses Armées.' Some families come in for criticism: 'Bethune. Cette maison si illustre s'est couverte d'ignomenie, un seul Bethune d'Artois a Emigrée.' Longest entry (twenty lines) on the Durfort Boissier family.

Folio, 3 pp. Bifolium. Printed on laid, watermarked paper. Around thirty-four lines to the page. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with loss to one corner (not affecting text). Reverse of second leaf docketed, and with thin strip from mount adhering at fold. Written in a neat seventeenth-century hand, with a number of emendations (including a deletion of three lines) suggesting that this copy was made by the anonymous author himself.

Laid down on 114 quarto pages; the leaves disbound and loose. The items themselves in good condition, on aged paper. Also included is a mass of loose material (having become detached from the album's pages), including 21 colour drawings (many marked as having been drawn by Wingfield between the ages of 8 and 12), 10 black and white drawings, 10 cut-out grotesque figures (three in colour), three loose quarto Colnaghi engravings ('Wm. Fredk. King of Prussia', 1814; 'Field Marshal G. L.

Folio, 1 p. On watermarked laid paper. 41 lines. Text clear and complete, the only loss being to the end of the signature: 'A well Wisher to my Contry [sic] & your '. On aged paper with slight wear and chipping to extremities. Thin strip of stub adhering along inner margin. The reverse is addressed 'To ye Honne: Mr: Blathwate | These', and is docketed 'From Capt: Cole | Proposal for Convoys'. The question of convoys was one with which Blathwayt was well-acquainted.

8vo, 6 pp. Two bifoliums sewn together. On laid paper with Britannia watermark. Text clear and complete. Neatly written out at approximately 38 lines to the page. On aged paper, with slight damage to the first bifolium, the leaves of which are detaching at the spine. Some of the items have been lightly scored through in pencil, but are still legible. The inclusion of such items as '149 Blank Silk Paper for copying Maps' would appear to indicate that the document is an inventory (for probate?) of a cartographer's stock. Last two entries read '165 Blank Sheets of Paper for copying Maps.

12mo, 8 pp. Fair, on aged laid paper. On four leaves removed from a pocket book, with two leaves numbered in manuscript '41' and '42'. Apparently a first-person draft of information for an appeal by the oldest surviving member (from the inception of the group) for a stipend. Begins 'Depuis le commencement de l'an 1760 que j'ai ete recu a la Musique du Roi, j'ai été en exercice jusqu'en 1792, avec 222. sujets qui s'y sous dont 40 vivant encore au 18 Janvier 1815. [...]'.

On eight pieces of 8vo paper, one of which has ha d a 3 cm horizontal strip cut away at the foot (not affecting the image). On a variety of different paper types, all wove. Good, on aged paper. Attractive images, ranging in height from 7 to 9 cm, of four women and four men, all clearly belonging to the eighteenth-century middle-classes. Executed in black ink using both pen and brush. Not full silhouettes: in some cases the hair is picked out in white. One of the images, of a young woman with curls and a bow, treated twice in slightly different styles.

12mo, 144 pp. In original grey printed wraps. On stained, aged paper, the staining causing loss to the manuscript portions of the book. The first 36 and last 30 pp contain printed matter including poems, essays and obituaries of Quakers. The central 78 pp contain the diary, memorandums and cash book, which carry numerous entries in a neat, tight hand. The diary is written by a woman, and details day-to-day activities.. The author travels from Darlington to Islington.

4to album of 33 leaves, with the 112 illustrations each on a separate piece of paper, and all laid down on 59 of the album's 66 leaves (the blank leaves of the album bearing traces of other illustrations having been removed). The illustrations range in size from 19 x 15.5 cm to 6 x 3 cm, with the average around 15 x 11 cm. The album's brown cloth covers are faded and worn, but internally the album is sound, with the illustrations themselves in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Around twenty are signed, half with the spelling 'Duchene' and the other half 'Du Chene'.

One page, 4to, tipped onto larger card, good condition. Forty-five lines excluding signature at base ("Walter Savage Landor"), text, worked over by Landor, as follows: The Public is informed that our gracious queen [sic], among her many acts of judicious beneficence, has granted a pension of 100£ a year to the lineal descendents, in the fourth degree, of Daniel De Foe. These are two aged women reduced to poverty and decrepitude.

12mo, 1 p. Neatly written with six items, beginning with '2 weeks pay for Serjt: Deans and Dr. Marton', and ending with 'Expences Contracted on account of Mc.Dougall'. Includes 'A Cockade for Joseph Harriegat & one for Dr. Harris'. Deans acknowledges receipt of £2 11s. The last item, of 5s is not included in the payment, and the bill is docketed on the reverse '1778 | Serj. Deans Bill a 5s Mist[ak]e.' The identity of the relevant regiment is unclear.

In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Dimensions are approximate. The three illustrations (1815-6), each 8.5 x 4 cm, form three panels on a 10 x 13.5 cm piece of paper.

Folio, 1 p. Bifolium. Text on recto of first leaf; docketed on reverse of second leaf. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Headed 'Longhoughton | Northumberland'. Signed at foot by the Earl and Countess. Begins 'Licence is hereby Granted to Elizabeth Adams to Lett Lett or Assign over to Robert Adams All That Messuage or Tenement and the Lands thereto belonging with the Appurtenances Lying and being in Longhoughton held of us by Lease for Twenty One yeares from Ladyday One thousand Seven hundred forty and Nine'.

Elliot's illustrations, attractively executed in great detail, recall the style of those in the volumes produced by the publisher B. T. Batsford during the same period. All in excellent condition, the majority with tissue guards; album in good good condition. Fifty-eight of the illustrations, all of Swiss knockers, on paper ranging in size from 21 x 5 cm to 23.5 x 16 cm (the latter the majority), are laid down on the rectos of the first 45 leaves of a 47-leaf landscape folio album (leaf dimensions 36 x 16 cm). All have tissue guards.

12mo, 3 pp, on separate loose leaves. Forty lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on browned paper. Laid out for printing, and with the page numbering 21 to 23 (from 12 to 14). Loosely inserted in a folder with 'Original Manuscript of Elbert Hubbard' printed on the front, which also carries two accession marks.

An short account of Cator's career is to be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for June 1866. This collection of nine items is of particular importance, considering the fact that - remarkably for such a distinguished figure - he was not accorded a Times obituary, and has no entry in the Dictionary of National Biography. The absence of biographical material may be due to the contemporary criticism of Cator's department for its handling of the provision of supplies during the Crimean War. All items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with texts clear and complete.

Text on 87 pp of a 8vo 1944 'Surrey Desk Diary' (Mitcham: Surrey Manufacturing Co.). Text clear and complete. Volume in good condition on aged paper. While the author's ownership signature at the front of the volume ('', ', '') is not decipherable, there are clues to his identity: his birthday is on 24 June, he states on 5 October that he is in the 23rd Armoured Brigade, and on 19 August he gives his Identity Card No. as 116941. He begins as a sergeant, and by 13 January is 'H.Q. Troop commander, which, out of action, no schemes, no censoring, doesn't amount to much'.