BIOGRAPHY

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[ Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Scottish historian and biographer. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('T F Henderson') discussing a manuscript of poems by Robert Burns.

Author: 
T. F. Henderson [ Thomas Finlayson Henderson ] (1844-1923), Scottish historian and biographer [ Robert Burns; Robert Hartley Cromek ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Knockbuckle House, Kilmalcolm, Renfrewshire. 19 July 1895.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The recipient's name is hard to decipher (' N Maunsell?>). Henderson writes that 'Mr. ' has forwarded to him 'your MSS of Burns poems', but that neither is in Burns's handwriting, although they have value as copies. He suggests that Burns's editor Robert Hartley Cromek 'got hold of the original M.S. and as was his custom failed to return it'. He gives a possible location for the original.?><?>

[Compiler of Dictionary] Autograph Note, third person, to "Mr Cowper", re. autograph collecting.

Author: 
L.B. Phillips [Lawrence B. Phillips], compiler of "The Dictionary of Biographical Reference" (1871).
Publication details: 
[Printed heading] 12 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, 27 May 1871.
£35.00

One page, 12mo, minor staining, complete and clear. "L>B> Phillips persents his Compts. to Mr. Cowper and desires to inform him that not being a collector of Autographs her cannot assist in the exchange proposed. Mr P. has a large assortment of Fac-Similes".

[Agricol-Hippolyte de Lapierre de Châteauneuf ['Citoyen Châteauneuf '], French author.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Châteauneuf'), in French, to an unnamed individual

Author: 
Agricol-Hippolyte de Lapierre de Châteauneuf ['Citoyen Châteauneuf '] (1766-1842), French author
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [Paris, circa 1815.]
£180.00

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, on aged paper, with a thin strip torn away at head, and the bottom right-hand corner detached from the rest of the letter, and repaired with archival tape, the tear running through the signature. The letter begins: 'Parmi Les grands hommes qui ont servi l'Etat, nos anciennes Croniques et L'histoire nomment vos encêtres.' He wishes to include the most celebrated of these 'dans mon histoire des Grands Capitaines de La france depuis Le Connétable du Guesclin jusqu'au maréchal de Saxe, ou dans mon Dictionnaire historique des hommes illustres de La france'.

[L. G. Wickham Legg, editor of the Dictionary of National Biography.] Autograph Letter Signed ('L G Wickham Legg') to Anglo-Irish writer Sylvia Lynd, regarding her DNB article on Katharine Tynan.

Author: 
L. G. Wickham Legg [Leopold George Wickham Legg] (1877-1962), editor of the Dictionary of National Biography [Sylvia Lynd (1888-1952), Anglo-Irish poet, wife of essayist Robert Lynd (1879-1949)]
Publication details: 
On his letterhead ('From Mr. L. G. Wickham Legg | New College, Oxford') of the Dictionary of National Biography. 27 August 1947.
£50.00

1p., 8vo. In fair condition, aged and creased. He is returning the 'drafts of Katherine Tynan. I have taken some liberties with the text in the matter of arrangement, but I hope there is nothing omitted which is of essential importance.' He is including 'a list of small questions', most of which he imagines 'Miss Pamela Hinkson could answer, and he offers to write to her himself.

[Printed pamphlet in the series of 'Haughton's Popular Illustrated Biographies'.] The Life of Thomas Carlyle. [With steel engraved portrait.]

Author: 
[Haughton & Co., 10, Paternoster Row; 'Haughton's Popular Illustrated Biographies'; Thomas Carlyle]
Publication details: 
['Haughton's Popular Illustrated Biographies.'] London: Haughton & Co., 10, Paternoster Row. [1881.]
£38.00

16pp., 8vo. Disbound. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Steel engraved portrait of Carlyle on title-page. Clearly produced immediately following Carlyle's death, as the commencement indicates: 'On a cold wintry Monday morning in February the Times announced that Thomas Carlyle was seriously ill.

[Ida Herz, friend of the novelist Thomas Mann.] Small archive of papers, including 30 Autograph Letters Signed from Mann's biographer Nigel Hamilton, typed transcripts and translations from Mann and others by Herz, autograph notes by Herz, cuttings.

Author: 
Nigel Hamilton (b.1944), biographer of Montgomery of Alamein and Presidents Kennedy and Clinton [Ida Herz (1894-1984), friend of the German novelist and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann (1875-1955)]
Publication details: 
Most of Hamilton's letters from 67 Royal Hill, Greenwich; a third on letterheads of the Greenwich Bookshop, 37 King William Walk; twenty of them from 1972 and seven from 1973, with a couple from 1975 and one undated.
£450.00

In 1925 Mann encountered the Nuremberg bookseller Ida Herz: a lifelong friendship followed, which was, according to Mann's biographer Anthony Heilbut, 'motored largely by her phenomenal devotion'. The present collection, comprising items, is in good condition, lightly aged and worn. (Seven leaves from Hamilton's letters have tearing to margins resulting in slight loss to text, and three leaves have damp-staining.) At the time the items were written Herz was living at 95 Gilling Court, Belsize Grove, London. Hamilton's letters total: 16pp., 4to.; 30pp., 8vo; 1p., 12mo.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Arthur Helps') from the Dean of the Privy Council Sir Arthur Helps to Sir Theodore Martin, praising an article by him on Baron Stockmar.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Helps (1813-1875), English author and Dean of the Privy Council [Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909), Scottish lawyer and author; Christian Friedrich (1787-1863), Baron Stockmar]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Privy Council Office. 19 September 1872.
£56.00

6pp., 12mo. In very good condition, adhering to leaves removed from an album. Helps begins: 'My dear Martin, | This is one of the things you excel in - the giving, in a comparatively short memoir, the real aim and end of a life: so that after reading your "In memoriam", one does not care to hear any more details.' Helps 'really cannot find any fault' in Martin's piece. 'H[er]. M[ajesty] [i.e. Queen Victoria] must, I think, be exceedingly pleased with the book - I mean your work.

[Bound mimeographed book, with full-page photographs, inscribed by the author.] 'Ivy Gladys Tennyson by C. T. [her husband Sir Charles Tennyson]'.

Author: 
Sir Charles Tennyson [Sir Charles Bruce Locker Tennyson] (1879-1977), grandson of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson [Dame Ivy Gladys Tennyson (1880-1958), nee Pretious]
Publication details: 
Privately printed. Undated. [Inscription dated December 1960.]
£250.00
Ivy Gladys Tennyson by C. T.

4to, [i] + 74 pp. Title-page and 74 numbered pages. Each page on the recto of a leaf, with the verso blank. With two full-page photographs (full-length portrait of Ivy in her wedding gown, July 1909; and picture of the couple 'From a portrait by Anthony Devas October 1950') laid down on blank leaves. Tied with green ribbon. Clear and complete. Internally in good condition, on lightly-aged paper; binding creased and repaired with tape. Inscribed by Sir Charles Tennyson on inside of front cover 'Jill from | with much love | Dec. 1960'.

[Bound mimeographed book, with full-page photographs, inscribed by the author.] 'Ivy Gladys Tennyson by C. T. [her husband Sir Charles Tennyson]'.

Author: 
Sir Charles Tennyson [Sir Charles Bruce Locker Tennyson] (1879-1977), grandson of the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson [Dame Ivy Gladys Tennyson (1880-1958), nee Pretious]
Publication details: 
Privately printed. Undated. [Inscription dated December 1960.]
£250.00
Ivy Gladys Tennyson by C. T.

4to, [i] + 74 pp. Title-page and 74 numbered pages. Each page on the recto of a leaf, with the verso blank. With two full-page photographs (full-length portrait of Ivy in her wedding gown, July 1909; and picture of the couple 'From a portrait by Anthony Devas October 1950') laid down on blank leaves. Tied with green ribbon. Clear and complete. Internally in good condition, on lightly-aged paper; binding worn and creased. Inscribed 'Jill from [Mom?] With much love  Dec. 1960'. Description, for his grandchildren, of his wife's 'remarkable personality and achievement'.

Somersetshire Worthies. [In original wraps.]

Author: 
Edward T. D. Foxcroft. [Frome, Somersetshire]
Publication details: 
[1876 or 1878] London: W. Kent & Co., 23, Paternoster Row. Frome: W. C. & J. Penny.
£125.00

12mo: [vi] + iv + 80. In original grey printed wraps, on which the name of the London publishers Kent features before Penny's (the actual title page simply gives 'Frome: W. C. & J. Penny.') Text clear and complete. On aged and slightly grubby paper. Wraps worn and stained. Recently bound in grey boards, with red leather label gilt on front. Ownership inscription at head of front wrap, dated 25 May 1878. Fly leaf with contemporary quotation decrying the books publication, 'as it may deter some more capable writer with better sources of information at his command'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. F. Monypenny') to Charles J. Trevor.

Author: 
William Flavelle Monypenny (1866-1912), British journalist and historian, best known for his biography (with G. E. Buckle) of Benjamin Disraeli
Publication details: 
29 May 1907; on letterhead 2 Queen Anne's Gate, S.W.
£35.00

Two pages, 12mo. Good, on spotted paper. Folded twice.He is obliged to his correspondent for 'sending me a copy of the Disraeli letter in your possession'. He will not trouble his correspondent for a loan of the original 'as the contents are rather of private than of public interest'.

Autograph Card Signed and Letter in another hand Signed (both 'Sidney Lee'), both to John Henry Fowler.

Author: 
Sir Sidney Lee (1859-1926), English biographer and man of letters
Publication details: 
The Card, 26 July 1920; the Letter, 17 November 1921; both on letterhead of 108a Lexham Gardens, Kensington, London, W.8, but with the letter's address altered to 2, First Avenue House.
£56.00

The Card is good, apart from two rust stains at the head from a paperclip. Stamped and postmarked, and addressed to Fowler at 16 Conynge Square, Clifton, Bristol. Six lines. Concerns Lee's sister Elizabeth, a writer of textbooks, translator and contributor to the Dictionary of National Biography, whose death on 10 July 1920 was, according to the New DNB, 'a source of much sorrow' to Lee. He thanks Fowler for his letter of sympathy, adding that his sister 'greatly valued her association' with you Fowler and his 'approval of her work'.

Autograph Letter Signed to [Osbert Guy Stanhope] Crawford.

Author: 
John Reginald Homer Weaver [DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY]
Publication details: 
7 September 1955; on letterhead of the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall.
£35.00

One of the editors of the Dictionary of National Biography (born 1882). The recipient (1886-1957) was a noted archaeologist. Two pages, 12mo. In poor condition: creased, grubby, worn, stained and repaired. Weaver has just been reading Crawford's 'extremely interesting autobiography with its most original title' ('Said and done.

Autograph Note Signed to R. S. McMinn.

Author: 
Edward Verrall Lucas
Publication details: 
41 Sloane St; no date, but postmarked 21 Sept 1920.
£25.00

English essayist and biographer (1868-1938). Plain postcard, dimensions roughly 4 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. Grubby and smudged, with central vertical crease. Deleted printed letterhead '176, VICTORIA STREET, | (CORNER OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE ROAD.) | S.W.1.' Reads '41 Sloane St | Many thanks | E. V. Lucas'. Addressed by Lucas to 'R. S. McMinn Esq | 35 Birdhurst Rd | S. Croydon'.

Signed uncashed bank cheque payable to J. H. Thorpe.

Author: 
Edward Verrall Lucas
Publication details: 
Barclays Bank Limited | 366, STRAND, W.C.2.'; 12 July 1927.
£30.00

English essayist and biographer (1868-1938). Attractive printed cheque in black and blue ink on light blue paper: dimensions roughly 7 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches. The cheque is for sixpence, and a pencil note (presumably by Thorpe) on the reverse explains how it results from a lost wager: 'Bet | Whether Geo A Birmingham wrote a Gen[era]l knowledge book. | He did.'

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Wilson'.

Author: 
George Ernest Manwaring
Publication details: 
18 November 1931; London Library, St. James's Square, S.W.1.
£30.00

1 page, 8vo. Grubby but in good condition. 'In case you have not already seen it, I beg to enclose you a leaflet relating to my new book. | I shall be grateful for any help that you can give it.' Signed 'G. E. Manwaring'. The book was 'My Friend the Admiral. The life, letters, and journals of Rear-Admiral James Burney' (Routledge, 1931).

One Autograph Letter Signed, one Autograph Card Signed, one calling card bearing unsigned Autograph Note, and one obituary from an unnamed newspaper.

Author: 
Sir Philip Montefiore Magnus, Bart.
Publication details: 
Card to C. H. Grinling of Red Roofs, Peaslake, Surrey: 15 December 1928; letter: 13 June 1930; both fromTangley-Hill, Chilworth, Surrey; calling card and newspaper cutting without place or date.
£30.00

Educationalist and biographer of Kitchener and Edward VII. All items are in good condition, but bear traces of rust from paper clips. The card is 1 page, 12mo, with printed letterhead, and carries two stamps and postmark on reverse. He is going to London the next day and will stay till Thursday. He will be happy to see Grinling on Sunday or Monday if convenient and he will try to be at home. The letter is 1 page, 8vo. In it he thanks his correspondent for the 'interesting papers which I will return'.

16mo fragment of ALS to unnamed correspondent

Author: 
Sir Sidney Lee (DNB), editor of the Dictionary of National Biography and Shakespeare scholar
Publication details: 
no date or place
£20.00

"I will carefully consider the suggestion and if the need arise will communicate with you again. | Yours faithfully | Sidney Lee"

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