BATTLE

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Autograph Signature ('Jellicoe | AF') of Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, on printed menu of 'Un diner à la Française', Palace Hotel, Villars-sur-Bex, Suisse, with 'Les Grands Vins de Champagne'.

Author: 
Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe (1859–1935) [Battle of Jutland; Dr Andrew John Morland (1896-1957), physician, University College Hospital and French Hospital, London]
Publication details: 
Palace Hotel, Villars-sur-Bex, Switzerland ['48e diner des Revues "Le Golf" et "Les Sports d'Hiver du Continent']. 5 January 1935.
£35.00

4pp., 12mo, printed in blue and gold on card bifolium. Aged and with central horizontal fold, with glue from previous mount adhering to reverse of second leaf. Jellicoe's signature, in pencil at the head of the first page, reads 'Jellicoe | AF'. The menu is made out in manuscript to 'Mr John Morland'. Nine champagnes are listed, with their vintages, with eleven suitably-grand courses. 'Cigarettes Ed. Laurens | Les spécialités sont expliquées par le Docteur de Pomiane.

Unpublished holograph poem (signed 'J. F. Hollings') by the Leicester poet and local historian James Francis Hollings, entitled 'Edgehill', regarding the English Civil War battle, 1642.

Author: 
James Francis Hollings (1806-1862), poet and local historian, President of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society [Leicestershire; English Civil War; Battle of Edgehill, 1642;]
Publication details: 
Without place place or place, on paper with watermarked date 1831. [Leicester, 1830s?]
£220.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. On wove paper watermarked 'R TASSELL | 1831'. 56 lines, arranged in seven eight-line stanzas. Presentable, despite wear and age, closed tears along crease lines, and traces of yellow-paper mount on blank reverse of second leaf. There is no sign that this item was ever published, which is surprising, as it is a superior effort, written with some conviction, the subject being one on which Hollings was regarded as an authority.

Material mainly relating to the Second World War and the Battle of Britain, from the papers of Flying Office Robert French Helm, Royal Air Force, including autograph material, photographs, tables.

Author: 
Flying Officer Robert French Helm (1913-1995), Royal Air Force [The Battle of Britain]
Publication details: 
The photographs date from the 1940s; the rest of the material circa 1960.
£400.00

Helm's promotion on 3 September 1940 to the rank of Flying Officer (41020) is recorded in the London Gazette, 15 October 1940. After the war he joined the International Civil Aviation Authority, working in Iran and Zambia, and was elected to the Membership of the Institute of Navigation, Royal Geological Society, in 1971. A total of 59pp., 8vo, of pencil notes and tables by Helm, relating to the RAF in the Second World War, with 6 original photographs.

Autograph Letter in the third person from Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, to John Jones of Dublin, refusing to engage in a political discussion with him, on the grounds that he has been addressed 'in the tone of Rebuke'.

Author: 
Arthur Wellesley (1769-1852), 1st Duke of Wellington, English soldier and statesman, born in Ireland, conquerer of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo
Publication details: 
Stratfield Saye. 2 November 1839.
£120.00

1p., 4to. On bifolium, with postmarks and red seal on the reverse of the second leaf, together with address (frank?) by Wellington: 'John Jones Esq | 57 Harcourt Street | Dublin | [signed] Wn'. On aged and worn paper, with slight damage to one corner by removal from an album. The message reads: 'The Duke of Wellington presents his Compliments to Mr. Jones. | The Duke has not written Mr. Jones any Rebuke. He received one. | He is not in the habit of discussing upon political subjects with those who think proper to address him in the tone of Rebuke. | He begs that the subject may here drop'.

Scrapbooks of the ‘last surviving officer of the Flying Squadron of the Trafalgar Fleet’.

Author: 
Commander Robert Amyett Newman (1793-1883), RN
Publication details: 
1836-1883
£800.00

Sixteen scrapbook volumes, 1836-1883, containing, among a mass of press cuttings over more than 2000 pages, numerous contributions by Newman to newspapers, as well as autograph copies of his letters to the editor of the Naval and Military Gazette under the pseudonym ‘Nauticus’. The newspapers featured include the Devonport Independent, Weekly True Sun, Kentish Gazette, Folkestone Express, Devonport Telegraph, Kensington and Chelsea News.

Autograph Letter Signed ('David Beatty') from Rear-Admiral David Beatty [later Earl Beatty], setting up with the London publishers Hutchinson & Co. a subscription for his son to the periodical 'The Marvels of the Universe'.

Author: 
Admiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty (1871-1936), 1st Earl Beatty [Admiral Beatty], commander of the Royal Navy battlecruisers at the Battle of Jutland, 1916 [Hutchinson & Co., London publishers]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Brooksby Hall, Leicester; 'Thursday' [stamped with date 12 February 1912].
£80.00

2pp., 12mo. On aged paper, with two ring-binder holes at the head of each leaf. Date stamp in purple ink. He asks for back numbers and future issues of 'The Marvels of the Age or Universe [sic]' to be sent 'to Master David Beatty Hanover Lodge Regents Park'. A postscript concerns 'the engraved Portraits'.

Autograph Copy Signed ('C G Napier') of letter from Major Charles George Napier to General Sir Henry Torrens, requesting a promotion and pension for wounds received at Waterloo, leaving him 'the greatest sufferer probably in the whole Army'.

Author: 
Major Charles George Napier (d. c. 1846) [General Sir Henry Torrens (1779-1828), Adjutant-General to the Forces; the Battle of Waterloo]
Publication details: 
Woolwich; 22 November 1819.
£250.00
Letter from Major Charles George Napier to General Sir Henry Torrens

Folio, 1 p. 35 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper. Docketed 'Copy of Letter wch. proved the antedate of Major'. He apologises for troubling Torrens again with his 'unfortunate case'. he is 'still on crutches and a very great sufferer in consequence of the numerous & severe Wounds I received in the Battle of Waterloo'. He is 'induced to implore His Rl. Highness The Commander in Chief [i.e. the Prince of Wales] to allow my commission as Brevet Major'.

Autograph Letter Signed by 'C. Spencer' of Cobham [member of Lord Spencer's Family?] to an unknown correspondent, mentioning the antiquary John Gough Nichols, and carrying the wax seal

Author: 
C. Spencer of Cobham [John Gough Nichols (1806-1873), printer and antiquary, editor of the Gentleman's Magazine and of the Herald and Genealogist]
Publication details: 
Undated [1860s?].
£56.00
Autograph Letter Signed by 'C. Spencer' of Cobham

The letter is of 23 lines, written on the front and back of an opened envelope with the cancelled address of 'John Wickham Flower Esq, Park Hill, Croydon'. In good condition, on aged paper. The rear of the envelope carries a good impression of a red wax seal, and the letter begins: 'My dear Sir, I had written this letter having obtained my object through my friend the York Herald and I still send it on account of the Seal which was the counter seal of Richd Neville Earl of Warwick killed at the battle of Barnet'.

Draft manuscript, docketed 'Answers to Queries', giving detailed information (by a secretary for a British minister?), regarding the nature and set-up of the newly-restored Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France.

Author: 
[The Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France; 1816; Duke of Wellington; British Foreign Office]
Publication details: 
On paper with Britannia watermark and 'W M | 1816'.
£450.00
The Bourbon government in post-Napoleonic France

Folio, 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. On aged and creased paper, with some wear and chipping to extremities. Previously folded into a packet docketed in a contemporary hand 'Answers to Queries'. The first page begins with 'Ansr. 1.', a list of ten ministers, from '1. The Duke of Richelieu President of the Council of Ministers & of the Privy Council & Min: Sec: of State having the Dept. of Foreign Affairs.' and ending with '10. Director general Count Pradel'. P. 1 also features 'Question 2 | Answer A', beginning 'The Members of the Govt.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. W. Fisher') from Admiral Sir William Wordsworth Fisher to 'My Dear Chief'.

Author: 
Admiral Sir William Wordsworth Fisher (1875-1937), Royal Navy, captain of a battleship at the Battle of Jutland, subsequently Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet
Publication details: 
4 June [no year]. Place not stated.
£56.00
Admiral Sir William Wordsworth Fisher

4to, 2 pp. Fourteen lines. Text clear and complete. Begins 'With my wretched attainments as a cricketer & golfer how otherwise can I do credit to my revered Chief and his band of brothers than by trying to keep my wicket up in this job?' Discusses 'those Jokers [members of a club?] whom HM has still to honour': 'we all consider that to be a Joker at all is quite enough for any man'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho Foley') from Sir Thomas Foley to Sir Richard Hussey-Bickerton, with reference to the conveyance to England in the Royal Sovereign yacht of the Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia, following Napoleon's abdication.

Author: 
Admiral Sir Thomas Foley (1757-1833), 'The Hero of the Battle of the Nile' [Admiral Sir Richard Hussey-Bickerton (1759-1832), Rear-Admiral to Nelson, 1804-5; Member of Parliment for Poole, Dorset]
Publication details: 
24 May 1814. Place not stated.
£450.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium, with mourning border. Thirty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and worn paper. The context of the letter is explained by a report in The Times of 2 May 1814, which states that, following Napoleon's abdication, 'The Royal Sovereign and Royal Charlotte yachts are to remain in the Downs, to be ready to sail for Calais for the reception of the Emperor ALEXANDER and the other illustrious personages who will shortly visit this country.

Autograph Manuscript Notes for 'Deputy Controller's Course', in official Royal Air Force notebook. With two mimeographed typed documents relating to the Course, including one with introduction by Wing Commander Bradford.

Author: 
A. H. Anderson, L.A.C.; Wing Commander J. R. Bradford, Fighter Command, Controllers' Training Unit [Royal Air Force; Deputy Controllers' Course; Second World War]
Publication details: 
Notebook dated by Anderson on cover 'Woodlands, Clamp Hill, Stanmore. 27 October 1941.' One of the mimeographed documents dated from Woodlands, 26 June 1941.
£250.00
[RAF] Autograph Manuscript Notes for 'Deputy Controller's Course

4to 'Royal Air Force. Notebook for use in Schools', with Anderson's notes in pencil on all but 11 of its 96 pp. Text clear and complete, written in a neat, tight hand, with diagrams and tables. Fair, on aged paper, with slightly dog-eared corners, in worn and creased wraps. Ownership inscription on front cover of 'A. H. Anderson L.A.C. | Deputy Controller's Course | Woodlands. 27.10.'41'. Providing important first-hand insights into the procedure of the RAF during World War II. Subjects include 'Fighter Command Organisation', 'I.F.F. (Identification friend or foe)', 'P.P.L.

Part-printed Treasury Document (Receipt) signed S ffairborne

Author: 
Sir Stafford Fairborne (1666-1742), Admiral
Publication details: 
18 April 1716.
£125.00

One page, c.19 x 18cm, some staining and minor damage (mainly a few pinholes) but text clear, trimmed (with loss only to MS figures), part-printed, filled in in MS. Receipt for £12.10s from the Exchequer, three months annuity, granted under An Act for continuing one half part of the Subsidies of Tonnage and Poundage, and other Durties upon Wines, Goods, and Merchandizes imported . . .

Autograph Letter Signed "M.A. Hughes" to Richard Twining,jun., Banker and Tea Merchant (see DNB

Author: 
Mrs M.A. Hughes, author, grandmother of Thomas Hughes, central to the literary society of her day.
Publication details: 
No place, 24 Sept. [1807].
£350.00

Three pages, 4to, but cross-written, making six pages of writing, sometimes hard to read, small piece of letter with a few words detached but present. Mrs Hughes is her usual informative, authoritative, lively and intelligent self, initially discussing the British disaster at Buenos Ayres. being unable to think of "a worse planned or more ill-fated expedition" in which the dead were "sacrificed". She attacks the commander, the Duke of York, in no uncertain terms: she hopes it's not a crime to wish him out of a world to which he he'd done so little good.

Manuscript logbook, with diagrams, specifications and 'Diary of Way', of a First World War sailmaker in the Royal Navy's 3rd Cruiser Squadron.

Author: 
J. Ryan, AB, sailmaker [3rd Cruiser Squadron, Royal Navy; Battle of Dogger Bank, 1915]
Publication details: 
Government stamp: 'Supplied for the Public Service'. Diary entries dated from 29 July 1914 to demobilization on 31 May 1919.
£180.00

Landscape, with leaf dimensions 19 x 10.5 cm. The diary covers 48 pages at one end of the notebook, with the diagrams and specifications over 32 pp at the other end. In original sturdy brown leather binding, with brass clasp, empty wallet at front and pouch for pencil. Marbled endpapers. In good condition. Text clear and complete on lightly-aged paper. Binding worn and with split hinges. In pencil on fore-edge: 'J. RYAN.

Autograph Note Signed ('Robert Stopford') [to the Rev. Charles William Tonyn (d.1805) of Radnage, Bucks].

Author: 
Admiral Sir Robert Stopford (1768-1847), Commander-in-Chief of the British fleet sent against Mehmet Ali of Egypt [H.M.S. Victory]
Publication details: 
3 June 1828; Porstmouth.
£100.00

12mo: 1 p. Five lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with one minor water stain affecting a couple of letters of one word. Reads 'The Adm[ira]lt[ie]s order for you son's reception as Vol[untee]r 1st. Class in the Victory is arrived, & he may join as soon as convenient'. Docketed by Tonyn on reverse '3d. June 1828 |Sir Robt. Stopford Commr. in Chief Porstmo. respecting my son George'. After Trafalgar the Victory was moored in Portsmouth Harbour off Gosport and used as a depot ship.

Warrant (commission), signed by Rodney ('G B Rodney') and his secretary Paget ('Willm Pagett.'), appointing Paterson 'Master & Commander of His Majesty's Fire Ship the Blast'.

Author: 
Admiral George Bridges Rodney (1718-1792); William Pagett [Admiral Charles William Paterson (c.1756-1841); Battle of the Saintes, 1782; the Saints; Dominica]
Publication details: 
08/04/82
£850.00

On one side of a piece of vellum, dimensions 24.5 x 31 cm. Neatly folded to make six rectangles. Entirely legible on discoloured vellum, with one small hole (not affecting text) caused by wear at one fold. The body of the document is printed over nine lines, with the specific information added in manuscript. Also in manuscript at the head: '[By] Sir George B Rodney Bart. KB.

Allegorical coloured engraved portrait of 'Bernadotte', with explanation, 'Drawn & Etchd by W Heath'.

Author: 
William Heath ('Paul Pry'); Rudolph Ackermann, publisher, 'The Repository of the Arts', Strand [Napoleon Bonaparte; Battle of Leipzig, 1814; Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte; Charles XIV John, King of Sweden]
Publication details: 
Pub March 4th 1814 R Akermann Strand'.
£250.00

BM 13489. Landscape. On a piece of wove paper, roughly 215 x 305 mm. Good, on heavily-aged paper and with strip of blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse. The title 'BERNADOTTE' is at the head, and the publication details and caption at the foot. Shows Bernadotte in martial pose and uniform, riding his white horse over a fearsome serpent. He wears a sash on which are written the words 'Leipsic' and 'Victory'.

Eleven manuscript Ordres de Marche (Orders of March) and seven manuscript Ordres de Bataille (Lines of Battle) of the French fleet under de Conflans which lost the Battle of Quiberon Bay; in a printed 'Vaisseaux du Roi Partagés en Trois Divisions.'

Author: 
[Hubert de Brienne (1690-1777), Comte de Conflans; Admiral Hawke; Battle of Quiberon Bay, 1759]
Publication details: 
Dated in manuscript 'Á Bord du Soleil Royal, en rade de Brest le 1ier. 9bre. 1759.' [1 November 1759]
£3,000.00

4to: 23 pp. Paginated 1-23. Twelve leaves; verso of last leaf blank. No title (presumably none called for). In early twentieth-century marbled boards, with green cloth spine. Text clear and complete, apart from damage to three words on title leaf. Ruckled and stained. Slight loss at head and foot of title, which also has a long closed tear repaired with gummed paper. Ownership inscription of Captain N. F. Duff. An excessively scarce survival, relating to the Battle of Quiberon bay, one of the greatest of English naval victories, rightly described by A. T.

Allegorical coloured engraved portrait of 'Buonaparte', with explanation, 'Drawn & Etched by W Heath'.

Author: 
William Heath ('Paul Pry'); Rudolph Ackermann, publisher, 'The Repository of the Arts', Strand [Napoleon Bonaparte; Battle of Leipzig, 1814]
Publication details: 
London Pub March 6th 1814 by Ackermann Strand'.
£250.00

BM 12195. Landscape. On a piece of wove paper. Originally a rectangle roughly 240 x 340 mm, but with an arc cut away beginning in the top left-hand corner and ending at bottom right. This loss has no effect on the text, and only the merest effect on the image, only trimming the outer edge of some very lightly-painted clouds. Apart from this good, on lightly spotted paper, with a thin strip from blue paper mount adhering to the blank reverse.

Remarque Proof Impression of etching on japon paper, signed by the engraver, of Meissonier's celebrated battlefield painting of Napoleon, 'Friedland, 1807'.

Author: 
Charles Klackner, New York and London printseller; Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, French artist; L. Ruet, engraver [Napoleon Bonaparte; Battle of Friedland, 1807]
Publication details: 
Copyright 1913 by C. Klackner, 7 West 28th Street, New York. [20 Old Bond Street London, Printed by Ch. Wittmann.]'
£300.00

On japon paper, roughly 260 x 330 mm. Dimensions of image roughly 140 x 225 mm. The impression has a metallic sheen. An impressively-executed engraving, a clear and crisp representation of Meissonier's celebrated painting, with a remarque of a horse at the foot. To the right of the remarque is the engraver's signature in pencil, ''. Klackner's copyright details run along the head of the engraving. Good, in crude card mount. A light smudge in the top left-hand corner of the margin, and a little damage to the bottom right-hand corner of the margin.

Printed handbill, with facsimile signature, of statement by Churchill beginning 'On what may be the eve of an attempted invasion or battle for our native land'. Addressed to Surgeon Commander Paterson, H.M.S. Victory.

Author: 
Winston Churchill [Winston Spencer Churchill; Surgeon Commander A. C. Paterson, H.M.S. Victory]
Publication details: 
Headed '10, DOWNING STREET, | WHITEHALL', and dated in print '4th July, 1940.'
£100.00

Printed on one side of a piece of unwatermarked cream wove paper. Dimensions roughly 24 x 19 cm. Folded and lightly creased, and with some staining (not affecting the text, which is entirely legible) to left-hand margin and top left-hand corner. 24 lines of text. According to Churchill's memoirs, this 'admonition' was 'circulated throught the inner circles of the governing machine' and then read to the House of Commons the following day.

Poemata, quae de praemio Oxoniensibus posito Annis 1806, 1807, et 1808, infeliciter contenderunt; non in publicum edita, amicis tantum privatim deferenda.

Author: 
[Abraham John Valpy (1787-1854); Pembroke College, Oxford; Trafalgar]
Publication details: 
[London] Londini: In Aedibus Valpianis, Pridie Idus Octobres, 1809. [A. J. Valpy]
£120.00

Octavo: [ii] + [41] + [1] pp. A little dogeared, on lightly aged paper, and with slight damp staining to one corner at rear. In worn and stained original grey wraps, repaired with strip of brown paper at spine. Three Latin poems by Valpy: 'Trafalgar', 'Plata Fluvius' and 'Delphi'. COPAC lists only three copies: at the British Library, the Bodleian and Durham.

Engraving by H. Bond of 'THE DEATH OF MAJOR PIERSON.'

Author: 
John Singleton Copley [BATTLE OF JERSEY]
Publication details: 
Undated, but mid-nineteenth century. Printed by 'JOHN TALLIS & COMPANY, LONDON & NEW YORK'.
£25.00

Major Francis Pierson died driving the French from the Market Place of Saint Helier in the Island of Jersey, 6 January 1781. Dimensions of paper roughly ten inches by eight. Dimensions of print roughly six inches by four and a half. Surrounded by six tiny vignettes: two of soldiers and four of battle scenes. Very good and clean. Suitable for framing. Mounted on a larger sheet of paper torn from an autograph album. The original painting is in London's Tate Gallery, and the item is accompanied by an early twentieth-century colour postcard of it, with some damage to the reverse.

Autograph Letter Signed by 'Handley'

Author: 
149 SQUADRON, ROYAL AIR FORCE, BOMBING OF THE RUHR VALLEY, SECOND WORLD WAR
Publication details: 
No date [c.1940-1]; Sgts. Mess, Mildenhall, Suffolk.
£50.00

2 pages, 8vo, both with Royal Air Force letterhead bearing the motto 'PER ARDUA AD ASTRA'. Not in good condition - creased, frayed, torn and discoloured - but a marvellous and immediate piece of history, regarding what one authority describes as the 'strategic bombing [...] principally against the Ruhr, on which No.149 concentrated during the winter of 1940-1'. The letter begins 'Dear Mum, | Just a line to thank you for the photographs, I think that one of you is very good.

Autograph Signatures of several members on printed keepsake.

Author: 
D Squadron
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£100.00

Presumably printed for a Royal Air Force regimental reunion. Card bifoliate, 16mo, with 3 pages printed in green ink and featuring crude vignette of men in action in black ink on recto of first leaf, and with verso of second leaf reserved for autographs. Discoloured but in good condition. Recto of first leaf headed '"D" Squadron | R.A.F. Regiment O.C.T.U., Sidmouth. | 29th October, 1942 - 23rd January, 1943.' Across the opening are listed the men of nos. 13, 14, 15 and 16 flights. Among around a dozen autograph signatures in pencil or pen are those of the Squadron Commander Major J.

autograph letter signed to W. D. Cooke

Author: 
Lord Cleveland on Battle Abbey, Sussex
Publication details: 
4pp, 8vo, Battle Abbey, 11 November 1869
£100.00

Is not sure whether he can find a ground plan of the Abbey before his alterations, but provides a detailed description of them, e.g. 'I took down some parts which were not old but added by Sir Godfrey Webster, built very badly of brick & cemented over to look like stone, and have rebuilt it of stone with a slight alteration so as to render it more in character'. He refers in detail to the rebuilding of the library 'which is 76 feet long is substantially the same building as the former one erected by Sir Anthony Brown after the dissolution of the monastery and its cession to him'.

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