BANKRUPTCY

2pp., 4to. Fair, on aged and creased paper. Facsimile of closely and neatly written manuscript. Begins by describing how Krasinski 'has resided in England about ten years', having come to the country 'on a diplomatic mission from the National Polish Government.

2pp., 4to. Printed in small type, with manuscript additions on both sides of the first leaf; addressed on the recto of the second leaf, with broken red wax seal: 'P. P. 9d | Mr Baldwin | Copper plate printer & | Birmingham | Sheffield | Oct 8th.' Great St Helens was a centre for firms concerned with bankruptcy and liquidation, and this interesting document offers banking services for 'needy Manufacturers and Tradesmen', with a use of Masonic imagery which is designed to reassure.

12mo, 3 pp. Thirty-three lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of mount on reverse of second leaf, which is docketed 'C. Fane to G. Joy | 19 Augt. 1844'. A significant and interesting letter, on a topic later tackled by Dickens in 'Bleak House', by a judge who was an active member of the Law Amendment Society, and whose decisions, according to his entry in the Oxford DNB, 'were frequently the subject of comment', although 'very few of his judgments were reversed on appeal'.

According to the prospectus (item three below), the Bank was 'Incorporated under the Companies' Acts, 1862, 1867, 1877 and 1879.' The three items were formerly pinned together. Item One (printed circular): 4to, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Headed 'TO SHAREHOLDERS ONLY. - PRIVATE.' Signed in type by seven 'Members of the Birmingham Committee of Shareholders'. The first paragraph reads 'The action of Mr.

Disbound. Octavo: four pages. Good: slightly aged and with some creasing to extremities. Thirty-one lines of text, followed by a double-column list of subscribers, and amounts subscribed.