DISTRICT

Printed in black ink on one side of a 23.5 x 17.5 cm piece of pink silk. An interesting piece of American nineteenth-century printing, with only the printer's details giving a clue to the occasion of the dinner. Within a decorative border, and with Maleville's slug in bottom left-hand corner. A sumptuous 'service à la russe', with potages, hors d'oeuvre, poisson, relevé, entrées roti, entremets and dessert.

Robin Wallace (1897-1952) was a well-known British painter in oils and watercolours, particularly noted for his landscapes. He was born in Kendal, Westmoreland, descended from a long line of hand-loom weavers. After working for local nurserymen, he served in the Royal Marines in the First World War. Soon after the war he set off for London, where he showed his work to Vicat Cole, principal of the Byam Shaw Vicat Cole School of Art in Kensington, who offered to teach him for nothing. His scholarship was renewed until 1926, the year of his first show, at the Rembrandt Gallery in Liverpool.

Printed on one side of a piece of 29 x 22.5 cm yellow newspaper stock. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with a 1 cm closed tear to the margin. Distinctively laid out, within a decorative border, with three vignette silhouettes of men in evening dress. Under the heading 'Double attraction', announces that 'The Excelsior Cinema Cuddapah. | Takes Pride in Presenting from Sunday 10-5-31. | Under the kind patranage [sic] of | A. G. Blake Esq., I.C.S., | Collector and District Magistrate, Cuddapah. | A Grand Show of an Assembly of | Nation Builders of India & England.

Six items stitched together with green ribbon. Heavily aged and with extensive damp damage. ONE: Typed agreement between The Vulcan Motors (London) Limited and The Urban Distric Council of Chiswick, dated 12 September 1923, signed by the directors of Vulcan Motors and their secretary. 2pp., folio. TWO: Typed 'Specification of Ambulance Body to be securely attached in an approved manner to Vulcan One Ton Chasis. As shown on the blue print attached.' By 'Engineer's Dept., Town Hall, Chiswick.' Dated 1 May 1923. 2pp., 8vo.

2pp., folio. Bifolium. In small type. Containing two copies of a printed circular by McIlquham, on Cheltenham Rural District Council letterhead, dated 14 September 1906. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The memorandum is divided into five sections, and begins by putting the Council's position that 'Motor Cars travelling at high speed in dry weather along the unwatered roads of country districts occasion an intolerable dust nuisance to other users of the highway, and seriously prejudice the comfort and even the health of the inhabitants of road-side dwellings'.

Nicely printed on both sides of a piece of 11 x 15cm card, folded once to make an 11 x 7.5cm bifolium, with the outer covers individual pages, and the internal double-page opening in portrait. The outer covers are blue, with a cloth weave; the internal opening is matte white.

2pp., landscape 12mo. 28 lines of text. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight damage to one corner. Addressed to 'Dear Professor Chorley', the letter begins: 'I do feel we owe you a very great deal for coming on Saturday. Every body seemed pleased with the meeting and that was mainly due to the chief speaker. They liked what you said and who said it.' Considering the demands on Chorley's time, she is grateful to him for not cancelling the engagement, and for the fact that he did not 'pour coals of fire' on her head for the 'silly mistake about the train'.

The collection is of great interest, providing a mass of information regarding the Victorian building trade. The owner of the volume, W. H. Dudley, would appear to be a War Office official, and, as described at the end of this entry, it contains manuscript details of two contracts. The ten printed schedules - totalling [34 + 17 + 14 + 10 + 12 + 13 + 12 + 10 + 16 + 11 =] 149 pp., folio - are uniform in design and format, bound together in a contemporary half-binding, with brown leather spine and corners, and marbled boards. All ten are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding.

As Chorley is described in his entry in the Oxford DNB as a 'conservationist' with a 'deep attachment to and lifelong concern for the English countryside', it is a surprise that no mention is made of the matter to which this collection relates, which created some public interest at the time and involved a landmark legal action. The first item in this collection - a copy of typed letter from Chorley to the Clerk to the Hendon Rural District Council on 24 October 1932 - sets the scene neatly.

8pp., 12mo. Stapled. In fair condition, on aged art paper, with fore-edges curling a little. Photographic reproduction on cover 'From the original pencil sketch of DR. ROBERT DUNSTAN by the Russian artist IVANOV. Moscow 1924.' Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on Copac at the London School of Economics, dated to 1924. With undated leaflet (1p., 12mo) titled 'Why you should join the Communist Party', printed by 'Centropress Ltd., TU, 168 Camberwell Road, London, SE5'. On leaf of aged paper, chipped at edges.

A rare collection of material, comprising the records of a Victorian parochial school, including registers, reports and government Education Department circulars on a range of subjects. Initial reports by H. M. Inspectors are addressed to Rev. R. H. Taylor, Kemble Vicarage, Cirencester, but by the end of the series the entire system has been reorganised, with the addressee now the Clerk to the School Board, Kemble. The manuscript index to the folder lists 128 numbered documents, but 29 are lacking, and an additional seven unnumbered items bring the actual number to 106.

One pager, fold marks, minor defects not affecting text. "Dear Mr. Smith, | The 'Journal' is in preparation, but will be greatly delayed this year. I will notify you later. | Yours faithfully, | William T. Palmer | Editor".

3pp., 12mo. A fair copy. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The twenty-eight-line poem is arranged in seven four-line stanzas, with Hillard's firm signature and the date at the end. The poem begins with unintentional, but no less curious, sexual overtones: 'The rod of Aaron, severed long | From its ancestral bowers, | Felt in its veins the sap of youth, | And shone with buds of flowers. | The rigid staff, smoothworn and dry, | In living green was dressed.

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. Ninety lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with small hole on second leaf causing damage to a few words of text. Addressed with two postmarks (one French, one American) on the reverse of the second leaf to 'William W. Whitwell Esq | Boston. Mass. | United States of America'. A significant letter, written from Paris by an astute and cultured American jurist on the day following the demonstration of 15 May 1848.

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. 89 lines of text. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed, with red circular postmark, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Revd. Samuel J. May | South Scituate'. Hillard describes 'Dr. Follen' as 'an intimate and dear friend to me'. He looks back 'with melancholy pleasure upon the happy hours' he spent in the society of 'so pure and elevated a being'. He has 'never known a better man; I do not know that I may not say, that I have never known so good a man.

The twelve items are in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, folded into packets, with all texts clear and complete. The first of the General Annual Statements, that for '1863 & 64', is representative. Its two pages are on one side each of two landscape sheets of grey paper, both 67 x 42 cm. Both are printed forms, with columns in red, headed '25th & 26th of Victoria, Cap. 61 GENERAL STATEMENTS of RECEIPTS and EXPENDITURE on Account of the HIGHWAYS of each Parish, Township &c.

All four items clear and complete, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Item One: Report of WAC meeting of 16 November 1915. Folio, 6 pp. Includes 'Reports from District Sub-Committees' and section on 'Enlistment as to Skilled Agricultural Labourers'. Also section on 'Women's County Committee'. Item Two: Report of WAC meeting of 22 December 1915. Folio, 4 pp. Sections on 'Instruction in milking to women' and 'Employment of women on farm work'. Signed in type as Chairman by Padwick. Item Three: Report of WAC meeting of 9 February 1916. Folio, 4 pp. Signed in type as Chairman by Padwick.

INDENTURE OF 1672: 'ex[ecute]d. by Rich: Lighfoot Clerk to ye Trustees', on one side each of two large vellum skins. Wear at folds, affecting the occasional word or phrase. Docketed on grubby reverse of first skin. Borders in red, and with attractive hand-drawn Royal Crest within large initial at head. 'Betwene the right honourable ffrancis Lord Hawley Sr. Charles Harbord Knight his majesties Surveyor generall Sr. William Howard of Tandridge in the County of Surrey Knight Sr.

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.

Striking advertisement, in red ink, on one side of a piece of paper roughly seven inches by seventeen wide. With something of a prewar feel, it reads 'DORKING URBAN DISTRICT | BOOK, WASTE PAPER | and CARDBOARD DRIVE | [in box on right] 12th April | TO | 1st May | 1948 [end of boxed text] | Save the Nation from having to import Waste Paper from abroad | PROVIDE | MORE Employment = MORE Cartons for Food | = MORE Materials for Housebuilding ='.

English civil engineer (1840-1907), who built the Forth Rail Bridge and worked on the Metropolitan and District Railways of the London Underground. Both items one page, octavo, on grey paper. Both in good condition, stamped and docketed. The note, signed 'B. Baker', reads 'I am sorry to say the Glasgow University Jubilee will prevent me and I have no doubt others from beingn at Marlborough House on the 14th.' The slip reads 'With Sir Benjamin Baker's Compliments.'