ALPINE

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter is addressed to 'My dear Forbes' , and while there is a possibility that it is addressed to David Forbes, the reference to the recipient being 'still in existence' suggests James David Forbes, who had been in bad health since his return from Norway in 1851. It begins: 'Only a few days before receiving your note we had been talking of you and wondering if you really were still in existence, for we had heard nothing of you in any way for so long.

A small photograph, in good condition. The image is in black and white, landscape, 5.25 x 8.25 cm., printed on photographic paper 6.5 x 9.5 with crinkled edge. In a grand palatial room, over the heads of six men sitting at desks, it shows a bespectacled speaker at a rostrum to the right, with two individuals at desks in the background facing towards the viewer. The typed note on the reverse ends: '[...] Herr Buhler speaking, from microphone equipped boz on r.

The 1909 letter a little foxed but fair overall, the other items all good on aged paper. ONE: Letter, 4 January 1909; Allington. 12mo, 2 pp. He is enclosing a document (not present) which will show 'that the Bishop will replace me. It only remains for me to place my resignation in your hands for communication to the Com[mitt]ee., with an expression of my thanks to them for their cordial support & of good wishes for the continued prosperity of the League'. He is 'off to Switzerland this afternoon'. TWO: Note, 20 October 1910; on Allington letterhead. 4to, 1 p.

12mo, 4 pp. 41 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with slight discoloration to edges. 'It was high time that in England, whence so many mountain climbers and tourists go to the Alps, a protest should be raised against the ruin wrought in Switzerland by the construction of tourist railways up the slopes of the mountains'. Deplores the 'irretrievable harm' already done to 'some of the noblest landscapes in the world, [...] easily accessible from the populous cities of Central and Western Europe, such as those on the shores of the Lake of Lucerne'.

Item One: 12mo, 4 pp. On aged and foxed paper with slight wear causing loss to a couple of words of text. On two folded 4to leaves, with two pages written by Shepherd in German on the reverse. The list is undated, and the intended location is not named, but the voyage is a major one. Divided into sections including 'Saddles &c', 'Guns & Rods', 'Books' (beginning with 'Shakespeare - Ingoldby - Golden Treasure'), 'Food &c. Fortnum & Mason' (including two gallons of brandy and two quarts of whiskey).

4to, 5 pp, on five loose and uniform leaves. Very good, on lightly aged paper. The first leaf is headed 'C. W. S. Acc' and is initialled at the foot 'Rt C. Wm. S.' The second is headed 'Sheet (2)', with the rest numbered 3 to 5. It is clear from sheets 2 to 5 that one leaf - what should have been 'Sheet (1)' - is lacking.

48pp., 8vo, original grey wraps, slightly dulled and grubby, mainly good condition. Contents include: Introductory Address; Edward Shirley Kennedy, The Ascent of Monte della Disgrazia (Leslie Stephen in party); William Longman, A Narrative of an Accident on the Aletsch Glacier in August 1862; wit Remarks on the necessity of making use of a Rope on Glacier Expeditions; F.F. Tuckett, A Night on the Summit of Monte Viso; Thos. S. Kennedy, Ascent of the Dent Blanche; Rev. Leslie Stephen, The Weisshorn; Notes and Queries.

12mo bifolium: 1 p. 11 lines of text. Address and docketing on second leaf. Good, but with 1 cm hole in first leaf of bifolium, possibly caused by breaking open of blue wafer, which still adheres. Hole causing loss to two words, including latter part of signature. Asks the recipient 'de remettre a Mr. Pousin conducteur des ponts et chaussees, un double demi metre en Cuivre et un metre en cuivre avec quatre petites roulettes pointilles'. He will pay for the order in a few days time.

Octavo: 9 pp. Stitched. In original grey printed wraps. Good. Inscribed by the author to the embryologist Sir Gavin de Beer ('For Mr. G. S. de Beer [sic] With my best wishes C. E. Engel'), author of 'Early Travellers in the Alps' (1930). The article describes the correspondence amassed by Sherwill (a friend of William Upcott) relating to his ascent of Mont Blanc in 1825, quoting from letters of Catharine Hutton, Charles Fellows, Edward Bootle Wilbraham, Martin Barry and Comte Henri de Tilly. 'In 1840 he presented it to the Bibliotheque Royale de France.

8.5 x 11 cms. Grubby and lightly spotted. Reads 'My dear Mr Sonnenschein | Kindly send draft as I can collect here - | Merrily Yours | Marshall P. Wilder'. Presumably refers to the English printing of his 'The people I've smiled with: recollections of a merry little life' (1889).

Notebook, soft-covered, c.90pp., 12mo,covers almost detached, contents good. Contents as follows: Table columnised, 5pp., giving details of Dates, Proposed Itinerary, Result; List of things taken "Self" and "Ernest" from clothes to toothbrush to Baedeker to bovril malt (with comments on whether worn, lost, etc.).

William Augustus Brevoort Coolidge (1850-1926), mountaineer, writer on mountaineering and climbing history, sometime editor of the "Alpine Journal". Two-pages, 8vo, some marking but text clear. "Many thanks for your lists. I fear you have been anticipated in your ascent of the Stecknedelhorn from the Nadelhorn by Herr Eckenstein. I have his notes (now in type) before me & it appears . . . " He goes into detail, including Eckerstein's times for the various stages. He cannot therefore publish Thorp's note.

Hubert Smith was a man of many parts: local historian, town clerk of Bridgnorth, Shropshire; author of a book which combines a mountaineering interest with a gipsy interest ("Tent Life with English Gipsies in Norway"); linguist; etc. He was also a passionate pursuer of information about the Guitar and guitar music at a time when the instrument was not popular. [Smith kept autograph copies of all his correspondence.] Letter , 3 pages, 8vo, soiled but clear and complete. He thanks them for the latest payment of royalties on "Tent Life".