COUNTESS

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He writes with playful urgency: 'My dearest Matilda | Do not go out of London until I have seen you - & pray delay your journey for a day or two - Dine with Henry to-morrow - Thursday - and with me on Friday. | Ever most affectionate | John Hobhouse'. In a postscript he sends his regards to the Count, instructing her to give him 'my commands to retain you', adding 'He must come to me with you.'

The material is laid down and loosely inserted on 39pp. of a folio album with paper covers (the ATS badge drawn on the front). The album itself is aged and worn, but the material inside is in good condition, with light aging.Biographical information on Wynne-Edwards is given in a loosely-inserted copy of an autograph letter to 'Mrs.

The three items in good condition, lightly aged. The first two with mourning borders (for his wife, who had died in 1852). Lovelace's handwriting is idiosyncratic. ONE: 12 February [1852]. From 6 Great Cumberland Place. 1p., 16mo. Acknowledging receipt of 'a memorial from certain inhabitants of Limpsfield, as well as the letter of Mr. Elliott'. TWO: 9 January 1853. 1p., 12mo. Stating that he has 'felt it inexpedient to comply with the requisition transmitted to me in February last'. THREE: 30 July 1854. 1p., 4to. Addressed to King as 'Dear Locke'.

[4] + 81pp., 8vo. The four pages 50-53 have been deleted in pencil, and a new version, on four pages also paginated 50-53, has been loosely inserted. Duplicated typescript, on 85 leaves, stapled together. In fair condition, aged and worn, with minor damp staining at head. 'No. 22' in red ink at head of cover. The play is said to be 'based on fact; on an actual historical situation', and is 'set in Cape Town and London between July 1899 and March 1992'. Aaronson was the author of 23 books on royal subjects. The present title is not to be found on either OCLC WorldCat or on COPAC.

5pp., 4to, typed on five leaves stapled together. With a few minor manuscript corrections. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. The introduction reads: 'Bio-crystallography of the blood rests on the premise that the motive force which directs the processes of crystallisation is a Psychosomatic activity inherent in the blood stream.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In very good condition, lightly-aged. She begins by explaining that as she is 'obliged to leave London', she will not be able to 'draw any more at his House this year'. She asks him to inform her how much she owes him 'for the Lessons he has been so obliging as to give - Lady Katherine Douglas & Miss Stuart will be at Mr. Parris's this Morning - | Ly Eastnor is desired by Lady Selkirk, & Lady Stuart de Rothesay, to enquire from Mr. Parris, what they are indebted to him for the Lessons to these two young Ladies'.

Totalling 14pp., 12mo. On four bifoliums. In good condition, lightly-aged. The correspondence indicates the closeness between Scharf and the family of the man responsible for his appointment as Secretary to the National Portrait Gallery. Topics include: the obtaining by her son [Edward Stanhope (1840-1893)] of 'a first Class in Mathematics the first in that branch at Ch[rist]. Ch[urch, Oxford].

Letter: 4pp., 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Loosely inserted in the book. Addressed to 'Dear Lady Kinnoull', which to Baker 'sounds so formal but when I was with you I got to feel as if we had known each other a long time'. Fearing that the Countess may consider her 'one of those people who take books', she explains about the difficulties of returning one: 'Our intention was to bring it back when we called for my picture but, as you know, we came to you from Big Sur & left Carmel early next morning.

4pp., 8vo. Bifolium. In very good condition, lightly-aged. Neatly placed with a windowpane mount onto a leaf of cream paper. Writing within a year of his demise, D'Orsay begins by defending himself to his attorney: 'My Dear Du Pasquier | You received my letter yesterday about Mousley. I could not act otherwise, and even I have no right to complain when a man is losing more than 5000 by me, to find fault that he did not send me £1300. I am astonished that you are so severe. I am sorry that you will not give your assistance in this affair. Do as you like.

1p., on 20.5 x 8.5 cm slip, headed by the Prime Minister's official letterhead. Sayer's apology is headed 'Mrs Attlee', and she writes that she feels she 'must apologise in writing for the mistake I made over the arrangements for giving your two seats to the Misses Trevor', hoping that it did not cause inconvenience and promising not to do the like again. Violet Attlee's reply, headed 'Miss Sayer', is at the head of the letter: 'Please don't worry. It is quite a relief to me to find that somebody besides myself makes mistakes! | W H A 30/3'.

The Countess of Clarendon had inherited the Mesopotamia Estate from her previous husband John Foster Barham (1799-1838), who had died a certified lunatic year before her marriage to the Earl. The Estate had been in the hands of the Barham family for more than a century. The four items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. All four with notes by the recipients. ONE: Letter signed by George J. Nicholson of the London soliticitors Vizard & Leman, in secretarial hand, to Messrs Thomson Hankey & Co. Lincolns Inn Fields; 7 July 1845 ('Mesopotamia Estate'). 1p., 4to.

1p., 8vo. In fair condtion, on lightly aged and creased grey paper. 'J'ai recu votre Robert Emmet; j'en rendrai compte le plus promptement possible et je ne dirai pas que le <?> est de Madam D'Haussonville.' (The Countess of D'Haussonville is the subject of a celebrated portrait by Ingres. Her novel 'Robert Emmet' was published in Paris in 1858.)

The engraving, which is not in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, is on a piece of 19 x 14 cm paper, with tissue guard. The image measures around 8 cm square, and shows Landor's head in profile, looking to the left, with 'A. D'Orsay' beneath to the left, and 'H. W. Smith' beneath to the right. In good condition, lightly-aged, with small stain to one edge of border. Attached to a piece of paper, along with the piece of Landor's autograph, which is on a 1 x 18.5 cm strip of grey paper cut from a letter, and is in fair condition, lightly-creased.

4pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper with slight discoloration to inner margins from previous mounting. She thanks Alice for her 'sweet letter', and declares that she has had 'a very very pleasant visit here. I like my friends here extremely. They are my sort for all that they are strong conservatives, and they are so simple, so homely, so gentle, & I get on with them as well as - what shall I say? . as well as with you!

12mo, 1p. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She is happy that her correspondent is enjoying himself, and looks forward to seeing him the following day, 'to take a friendly dinner'. An initialed pencil note in a contemporary hand at the head of the page reads 'The celebrated Lady who prosecuted Lord Wm Paget - Cassidy - others for getting into her Bed room at night in Paris to endeavour to carry her off & marry her for her large fortune to Cassidy | [signed] ' The incident - a great scandal of the age - was alluded to in 1844 in the Annual Register and other papers.

The Earl of Darnley's four letters (all signed 'Darnley') total 27 pp in 12mo; Lady Darnley's eight letters (all signed 'H. Darnley') total 26 pp in 12mo. All items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Darnley's first letter, 16 September 1853 (12mo, 12 pp), is unusually blunt for the period, and revealing on the etiquette of the period. It begins: 'I trust that the change in your mode of addressing me was accidental, and I have therefore not imitated it, and have used one word which you omitted [presumably 'Dear'].

Folio, 1 p. Bifolium. Text on recto of first leaf; docketed on reverse of second leaf. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Headed 'Longhoughton | Northumberland'. Signed at foot by the Earl and Countess. Begins 'Licence is hereby Granted to Elizabeth Adams to Lett Lett or Assign over to Robert Adams All That Messuage or Tenement and the Lands thereto belonging with the Appurtenances Lying and being in Longhoughton held of us by Lease for Twenty One yeares from Ladyday One thousand Seven hundred forty and Nine'.

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-one lines. Text clear and complete. On discoloured paper. Begins 'I think if you go into The Park at Hampton Court you will easily satisfy yourself that I am justified in withholding my consent to its being stript of its turf'. He considers that 'positive injury [will be] done to the Pasture', and as 'it is expected that we should maintain Deer to the number of 500. or more & that we endeavour to obtain from the feeding of Cattle some portion of the rent payable to Lady Bloomfield', consent cannot be given 'to diminish the food in the Park'.

4to, 2 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-six lines. Text clear and complete. On aged, creased and stained paper. Traces of paper mounts adhering. Docketed on reverse of second leaf. Requiring payment of her 'Rents for my House you at present Inhabit'. The recipient's non-payment of the rents since September 1790 'have occasioned me much Embarrassment. I can only imagine your reason for non Payment to have arrisen [sic] from the Suit that at present subsists at Law Respecting the Property & the House I have mentioned'. Gives reasons justifying immediate payment.

4to: 1 p. Twenty-four lines of text. On a bifolium of laid paper, and docketed on the reverse of the second leaf. Good, in faded ink on lightly-aged paper. Begins 'La france republicainne [sic] me fait perdre des renttes [sic] viageres'. She complains of the attack on her 'legitimes droits a mes biens de Corses que le roy de france garrante par un Contract', and speaks of 'droits inalterables et inprescriptible'. She asks for a 'paquet' to be passed to 'Milord Hood'.

8vo: iv + 48 + [ii] pp. Last leaf carries advertisements for works by Fairburn. In marbled wraps. Text clear and entire. On aged paper with slight wear and fraying, small holes and light stains to first four leaves. Title continues '[...] to which are added, The Q-'s last letter to the K-, Written a few Days before Her M-'s Death, and other Authentic Documents, never before published. | [quotation] I am the Viper that has been secretly wounding you both.

The collection in good condition, with all but one of the six items carrying ring-binder punch holes. Item One, Articles of Agreement: Foolscap bifolium, 3 pp. Dated 16 September 1904. Printed seventeen-point agreement in the form of a manuscript facsimile. Signed by Johnson, Sir John Edge and Sir Stewart Colvin Bayley, and witnessed by 'W. Watson | R[oyal]. G[ardens] Kew' and 'Frank R. Marten | India Office'. Items Two and Three both with mourning border on letterhead of Minto House, Hawick. Item Two, Mary Countess of Minto ('M Minto') to Johnson. 4to: 1 p. 14 September 1914.

One page. Dimensions of paper roughly eleven inches by seven and a half. Aged, and with fraying to extremities, but text clear and complete. 'Received by me [Elizabeth Countess Dowager of Kildare] Of the Right Honourable Thomas Townshend, Esq; One of the Four Tellers of His Majesty's Receipt of Exchequer, the Sum of [Three pounds ten shillings] in full of all former Directions of the said Order, and for [Six] Months Annuity, due at [Lady Day] last past, of [Seven] Pounds per Annum [...]'. Signed 'Eliza Kildare'. Witnessed by 'Coms: Pye'.

12mo, 2 pp. Written crosswise on paper with the embossed letterhead of Croxteth Hall. Good, though lightly spotted and with small central spike hole. Folded twice, and a little worn along crease lines. She 'will not trouble him to send any more nos. of "Martin Chuzzlewit" as it has been sent her'. Asks for 'all the numbers which are out of "Combe Abbey" [to be] put by for her, & continued' She is from home where she wishes to have them sent -'. Combe Abbey was a seat of the Earls of Craven, but there is no record of an item on it published around the time of 'Martin Chuzzlewit'.

Both items written in pencil and good, on lightly aged paper, with their stamped and postmarked envelopes addressed by Asquith. Both envelopes with traces of brown paper mount adhering to reverse, and both docketed by the Graphic's editor 'To me Harold Lawton'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pp, headed 'Private'): Amusingly outraged letter regarding a visit by 'two gentlemen' of whom Asquith 'had no sort of knowledge'. Graphic journalists, they assured Asquith 'that nothing wd. be written about me without my seeing it first [last five words underlined in red]'.

Quarto: ii + 234 pp. In original grey boards and cloth spine, with chipped white label. Unopened. Good, with slightly discoloured endpapers. Extensive transcriptions from the Countess of Blessington's correspondence, the writers ranging from Mrs Abell ('Napoleon's pet English child at St. Helena') to Nathaniel Parker Willis.

One page, octavo. Very good, on lightly aged paper, with embossed blue ink monogram at head. 'Dear Sir | My Sister Isabella, just arrived, tells me you desire my autograph, I have great pleasure in complying with your flattering request. [...]' The blank second leaf of the bifolium is carefully attached to a larger piece of neatly-docketed paper, and has the two newspaper cuttings partially laid down on it. The short Times obituary, dated 17 March 1908, states that 'She must surely have been the last person alive to whom Charles Lamb addressed a poem'.

Dimensions of card roughly 8 x 12 cm. Very good though lightly aged. Asking her correspondent to dinner in the following week. Note, addressed to 'Cher tres Cher Coq', on one side of 8vo grey paper. Very good, though lightly creased. She will be 'enchante de vous voir chez moi' on Wednesday [6 July] at 1 o'clock. Both items written before the Asquiths 1919 move from Cavendish Square to 44 Bedford Square. Two items,

Wit (1657-1717), mistress of James II. One leaf, dimensions roughly seven inches by ten and a half. Printed text with manuscript additions on recto with calculations in a contemporary hand on the reverse. Good, but grubby. Receipt 'of the Right Honourable James Vernon Esq; One of the Four Tellers of the Receipt of Her Majesty's Exchequer', of sixty pounds for three months interest on £4000 lent by the Duchess and Sir Henry Furnesse on 19 January 1706. Signed 'Dorchester'.

One page, quarto. Aged, and trimmed along one margin, with minimal loss of text. Interest on moneys 'Lent unto Their Majesties upon the Credit of an Act of Parliament, (Intituled, An Act for Granting to His Majesty An Aid of 4 Shillings in the Pound for One Year'. Witnessed, with Autograph Signature, by George Cheret. Signed 'M Orford'.