BESANT

5pp., 4to. In good condition, on aged paper, with rust stains from paperclip. He begins by stating that he was 'an interested listener of your lecture against Theosophy yesterday afternoon, and as you were kind enough to invite questions I venture to make one or two criticisms which occurred to me'. The main purpose of the recipient's lecture, it seems to Boyd, is 'to demonstrate that Theosophy is incompatible with Christianity'. He proceeds opposes this strenuously, with reference to reincarnation and Kant.

Printed on the rectos only of 27 16mo (17 x 10.5 cm) leaves, attached to one another by a metal stud in the top left-hand corner. On aged and creased high-acidity paper, with the first three leaves detached. Each leaf carries a transcript of a letter of endorsement from a different individual or group, each with a facsimile signature. The writers are 'The Editor and Proprietors of the "Sheffield Telegraph"'; Sir Michael Hicks Beach, MP; W. E. H. Lecky, MP; Lord Goschen; Viscount Wolseley; Dean Farrar; Sir James Crichton Browne; Sir J.

For more about O'Neill (son of the Victorian artist George Bernard O'Neill) see his obituary in The Times, 15 June 1946. LETTER: 4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

The Oxford DNB entry on Sir Walter Besant states that, 'Concerned to cultivate better understanding with North America, Besant worked in the last two years of his life for the Atlantic Union.' In fact it was Besant who founded the club in 1900, with Conan Doyle and others, with the object, according to The Times, 22 February 1900, 'of drawing together the various English-speaking peoples and strengthening the bonds of union by the formation of ties of personal friendship among individual members'.

4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 51 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. The General Committe have asked Besant to thank the recipient for his 'kind assistance during the last year, and to express their hopes that your sympathy with the objects which they have at heart will still continue'.

12mo, 2 pp. Seventeen lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper. Attractive arts and crafts letterhead. Sending his 'mosts profound sympathy in the danger which threatens Chelsea'. He will sign 'the paper [...] with the greatest of pleasure', although he anticipates 'very little good as a possible result'. Suggests a time at which the paper can be sent to him.

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 24 x 14.5 cm. With card backing. Good, though lightly aged. Headed by the Royal warrant, the top-half of the handbill features, in a variety of types and point sizes, the announcement of Tuck and Sons' intention to award 'Upwards of 4,000 prizes, of the value of 3,000 guineas, and a number of judges' diplomas', with Besant and Stone as judges. The lower part has two columns featuring fifteen testimonials, by newspapers ranging from 'Windsor and Eton Gazette' to the 'Sheffield Telegraph'.

The notes, on three 12mo bifoliums, cover three pages, with a few lines on a couple of others. In excess of eighty lines. Very good. Brief chronology and list of notable residents, presumably an outline for the description of the district in Besant's 'London' (1892) or another of his many writings on the city.

Octavo: 39 pp. Stitched. In original orange wraps, with grey printed paper boards. On spotted, aged paper, with insect holes to a couple of leaves. Wraps stained and worn. First English printing of an essay noted for its coupling with Henry James's piece of the same name (not present here) in an American edition of 1885.

English writer and critic (1829-1919), brother of the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the poet Christina Rossetti. The letter is docketed as to '(Besant)', presumably the writer Walter Besant (1836-1901). Four pages, 12mo. On a piece of grubby, discoloured paper, torn in half and neatly repaired with archival tape. Traces of glue from previous mounting on verso of second leaf of bifoliate. Docketed as 'About Keepsake MS'. He returns the book with thanks.

English novelist (1836-1901). Two pages, octavo. Some discoloration in margin from previous mounting. His silence is due to the fact that he has been 'out of town for Easter'. He is grateful to his correspondent for thinking of him 'in connection with the Garrick. But I am afraid I must not consider it. You see by the address that I live out of the way of clubs - This is for the sake of certain small children <?> to be considered'. He is already a member of three clubs: the Athenaeum, the Old University and the Savile ('wh: I do frequent').