BRASENOSE

Two pages, 12mo. Very good on lightly aged paper. Begins with three bibliographical points, including one about Wagner's edition of Bentley's 'Phalaris' ('that of course we have at the Bodleian. A very useful edition, with long bibliography'). 'Thanks about my brother William, and Osler. The former I did not see much of, of late years. Osler, [Sir William Osler, who died 29 December 1919 and was a Curator as you say, is a real loss to the Bodleian.'

After leaving Dulwich College Mortimer was a classical scholar at Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1933 he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, after which he became a schoolmaster in Catholic schools, most notably Stonyhurst. According to his profile in the Catholic Herald, 5 August 1938, Mortimer was 'well-known as a composer and lyric writer, and his work has been broadcast from the early days of broadcasting. | Recently he has contributed " uncle-duty " to the [BBC] Children's Hour.

1p., 8vo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Docketed on reverse: 'Rev: Mr. Rowe | Feby. 1798'. Signed 'Henry Rowe' and addressed 'Gentlemen' (from the context clearly his publishers). The letter concerns Rowe's 'Poem's (London: Cadell & Davies, 1792), published, according to the British Critic, 'with the hope of alleviating the distresses of the author and his family'. The letter begins: 'The proposal you made of delivering me Fifteen Copies for Five Pound, will in no respect answer my purpose'.

12mo: viii + 40pp. As a fold-out tipped-in onto p.23 is 'A Synopsis of Drinking, formed according to the Categories of Aristotle' (1p., folio); and following the text is a four-page catalogue of 'Books published by J. Vincent, Oxford; Whittaker and Co.; Simpkin and Marshall; and Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, London.' Side-stitched, in original grey printed wraps. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with small burn-hole to dogeared front wrap, which carries the ownership inscription of 'F. Saunders / Trin Coll'. A satire on the dissolute ways of the Oxford undergraduate.

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. Addressed, with fragments of red wax seal, on reverse of second leaf. On aged, worn and grubby paper, with extensive damage to second leaf, from which a panel amounting to around a sixth of its area is lacking, with a further two holes repaired with archival tape. The fifty-one lines of text of the first leaf clear and complete; loss to twenty of the twenty-seven lines of the text on the second leaf.

English historian and archivist (1776-1854; DNB) who superintended the publication of the 'State Papers of Henry VIII'. Fragment of letter, 2 inches by four, in good condition, on laid paper signed 'H. Hobhouse' beneath part of salutation 'Yr obed. Sert.' with 'Basseterre | Guadaloupe' beneath.