HISTORY

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Death of the Broad Gauge [Letters to his father about the transition from broad to standard gauge]

Author: 
Richard Bentley [grandson of Richard Bentley, publisher]
Publication details: 
[1892]
£250.00
Richard Bentley, Death of the Broad Gauge

18pp., 8vo, marbled boards, cloth spine, label on front, some pages damaged at spine (hinge strain), ow good. This copy if from the archives of Richard Bentley & Son, publishers, and this copy was personalized by rebinding to become Richard Bentley the Younger's own copy. A typed note has been tipped on to the front endpaper, saying, Letters from young Richard Bentley to his father George Bentley on the transition of the G.W. Railway from Broad Gauge to standard gauge in 1892. George Bentley to encourage his son's early literary effort printed 40 copies of this booklet.

[Offprint] The Meteorology of Daily Life

Author: 
Richard Bentley, FSA, President of the Meteorological Society, former publisher.
Publication details: 
1906.
£85.00

Pp.[81-112], 8vo, green paper wraps, sunned at edge, mainly good+. Offprint from the "Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society", vol.xxxii, no.138, April 1906. Presumably one of the author's copies. From the archives of Richard Bentley & Son (and the personal archive of Richard Bentley II. No copy listed on COPAC or WorldCat.

[Offprint] Weather in Wartime.

Author: 
Richard Bentley, FSA, President of the Meteorological Society, former publisher.
Publication details: 
1907.
£65.00

Pp.[81]-138, 8vo, green paper wraps, sunned at edge, wraps chipped, especially at spine. contents good. Offprint from the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, vol.xxxii, no.142, April 1907. No copy listed on COPAC or WorldCat.

[Printed pamphlet.] Catalogue of the Westbury Charities. 1896.

Author: 
[The Westbury Charities] [J. E. Severne, Chairman; R. D. Bromley, Vice-Chairman; W. R. Croft, Clerk; of the Parish Council of Westbury]
Publication details: 
Shrewsbury: W. G. Napier, Printer. 1896.
£75.00
Catalogue of the Westbury Charities

12mo, 8 pp. Stapled. In original grey printed wraps. Text clear and complete. On aged paper and in spotted wraps.

[Prospectus or Commemorative Catalogue of] Bentley's Standard Novels & Romances |Bentley's Favourite Novels

Author: 
[Richard Bentley & Son, publishers].
Publication details: 
[New Burlington Street, London], Printed January 1882.
£125.00
Bentley's Standard Novels & Romances

One Hundred Copies only. [16]pp., cr.8vo, sewn as issued, unopened, tastefully printed in brown with decoration on hand-made paper, good condition. Sadleir, in XIX Century Fiction, describes this as A Prospectus of the Standard and Favourite Novels issued in January 1882. Given it's date, I would suggest it's a Commemorative Catalogue of a series which has great significance in publishing history. It gives the information present in Sadleir (II.100-4), but it calls the phantom Second Series (Sadleir) Bentley's Standard Novels. The Re-Issue. 1854-1859?.

Manuscript accounts relating to the Trial of the Pyx, 2 July to 29 December 1681

Author: 
Royal Mint and Goldsmiths' Company.
Publication details: 
1681
£1,500.00
Trial of the Pyx

1. Physical Description: 8vo, 20 pp. Ten loose leaves of watermarked laid paper. Aged, and with chipping to extremities causing occasional minor loss to text. In a neat, close Chancery hand. The leaves would appear to be sequential, with no evidence that any are lacking from the series. Docketing in a modern hand in pencil at head of recto of first leaf, which also has laid down on it a fragment of a small type-written slip: 'B/26 | <...> AL - SERIES B. | <...> 1681 - DECEMBER 1681'. Pp.1-10 (on Leaves One to Five) concern gold; pp.11-20 (on Leaves Six to Ten) concern silver.A.

Typed transcripts of a number of First World War documents, including copies of Sir John French's despatches on the Retreat from Mons, and the Battles of the Marne and of Aisne, as well as communications from French, Joffre and Sir Edward Grey.

Author: 
[Transcripts of First World War documents by Sir John French, Sir Edward Grey, General Joseph Joffre and others]
Publication details: 
Undated. The original documents dating from between 28 July 1914 and 2 January 1915.
£450.00

Folio, 38 pp; and 4to, 22 pp. Trade source stated that this material was found in a file marked War Office, suggesting official file copies. All documents clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. All foreign documents translated into English. The main documents are Sir John French's Despatch on the Retreat from Mons, 7 September 1914 (folio, 10 pp); French's Despatch on the Battle of the Marne, 17 September 1914 (folio, 5 pp); French's Despatch on the Battle of the Aisne, 8 October 1914 (folio, 12 pp); Joffre's General Instruction No. 1, 8 August [1914] (folio, 4 pp).

[Printed offprint pamphlet relating to the American President George Washington.] A Washington Token. By William C. Wells. Reprinted from the British Numismatic Journal.

Author: 
William C. Wells [President George Washington; numismatics]
Publication details: 
London: Harrison and Sons, St Martin's Lane, W.C. 1915.
£100.00
A Washington Token. By William C. Wells.

4to, 7 pp. In original printed wraps. Fair, with an unobtrusive closed tear to the title leaf. The purpose of the article is to explain the relationship between John Washington, the issuer of the token the article describes, and the first American president. Both sides of the token are illustrated on the front page. The last page carries a family tree of 'The Washingtons of Northamptonshire, Sussex and Virginia'. The only copy of this offcut on COPAC is at the British Library.

Autograph Letter Signed William Blades, bibliographer, to the Earl of Ashburnham, Collector, with related autograph material.

Author: 
William Blades, Bibliographer and Printer [Ashburnham; William Caxton]
Publication details: 
2 Montague St., Russell Square, 17 May 185[8?].
£350.00
Autograph Letter Signed William Blades, bibliographer

Two pages, 12mo, chipped and with small closed tears, with loss of half a line of text and some letters, bottom edge turned up. I beg to offer you according to your reque[st] a list of books printed by Caxton, in the library at Ashburnham House with their imperfections and sizes.

Folder compiled in 1958 by William E. Appleby, containing a plan, a list, photographs, and newspaper cuttings, relating to Appleby's model for the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority of the 'Zeta' fusion device at Harwell, for the Brussels Fair.

Author: 
William E. Appleby [ZETA nuclear fusion device; Harwell; U.K. Atomic Energy Authority; Museum of Model Engineering & Science, Westcliffe-on-Sea]
Publication details: 
1958. All items laid down on pages headed 'Museum of Model Engineering & Science, Westcliffe-on-Sea'.
£350.00
A plan, a list, photographs, and newspaper cuttings, relating to Appleby's model

The collection is laid down on the rectos of 43 leaves of a 4to folder, on pages printed with borders and headed with the name of the Museum. Items in good condition, with the usual aging to newspaper cuttings, in worn folder. Folder in original buff wraps with, printed on front wrap, 'Compiled and Edited by WILLIAM E. APPLEBY', and with the subject given in manuscript as 'Atomic Models & Machines (MEL) Zeta.' Last page with note by Appleby: 'Zeta | Science Museum | Made by | [signed] William E Appleby'.

Part-Manuscript] Publishing Agreement Signed by parties for The Royal Nursery A.B.C. Book [childrens's book] with publisher, Edward Chapman (formerly Chapman & Hall),

Author: 
Anthony R. Montalba [A. Whitehill), author (apparently Swedish father of sculptress Henriett Montalba)
Publication details: 
[London], 2 November 1848
£95.00
Publishing Agreement Signed by parties for The Royal Nursery A.B.C. Book

One page, folio, part-printed, part manuscript, edges chipped, small closed tears on fold marks and at top and bottom edges, some staining but text clear and complete. The document gives the terms they agree, and Montalba has added I acknowledge the receipt of £50 the signatures for which [?] various sums stand in the cash book-as payment for the wood cuts for the above work & which is to [be] charged in the account | ARMontalba. Note: According to the BLC this work was written by A.Whitehill, translating Montalba.

Autograph Letter Signed B. Gilliat-Smith (diplomat and naturalist) to Lady Findlay, wife of diplomat, Mansfeldt Findlay, about books on fungi.

Author: 
B. Gilliat-Smith, diplomat and naturalist
Publication details: 
British Consulate, Copenhagen, 17 August 1918.
£38.00
B. Gilliat-Smith, diplomat and naturalist

Three pages, 12mo, minor defects, text clear and complete. I fear I quite forgot to send you the names of the books on 'fungi', and now I have not got them with me. But as the messenger is going up to Christiania I am sending you some rather crude pictures, which may be of some use pending the arrival of better books which I shall recommend shortly. | But for heaven's sake be careful! Some are so poisonous that no doctor can be of any use.

Autograph Note, Third Person, Charles D'Eyncourt , Tennyson's uncle, to the G.P.O., giving forwarding address.

Author: 
Charles (Tennyson) D'Eyncourt. Tennyson's uncle [Postal History]
Publication details: 
6 June 1844.
£65.00
Charles (Tennyson) D'Eyncourt. Tennyson's uncle [Postal History]

Two pages, 12mo, bifoliate, section (presumed postal history or blank) from second leaf. Addressed to General Post Office, countersigned D'Eyncourt. Text of note: Mr. d'Eyncourt will be obliged to the officers of the G.P.O. to send his Letters to | No.1 John Street St James's Sqre | 6 June 1844. From 48 Dover Street in different hand at top of page. Verso of note is stamped No. [8527] Regd. June 7 1844 with notes by various employees of the GPO who were putting the request into effect.

Autograph Postcard Signed "R.S." (Randolph Schwabe) to Jean Inglis, Scottish artist.

Author: 
Randolph Schwabe, draughtsman and printmaker
Publication details: 
Slade and Ruskin Schools of Art, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford [stamp], [1941]
£95.00
Randolph Schwabe, draughtsman and printmaker

C.14 x 9cm, calligraphic writing style, good condition. "Of course it's allright about the reference for the Pilgrims. I hope it comes off. W.M. Rothenstein, Walter Bayes and Hagedon have all worked for the Trust. | All pretty well here. It looks as if Alice and Bish may get married about Easter: no details yet. Our love to you -" Note: Entries referring to the Schwabes in Jean Inglis's diaries indicate a strong friendship involving meals, films and plays.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to Sir R.L. Harmsworth about the publishing history of Little Goody Two Shoes. With part of a substantial letter from [F.Contes?] on the same subject

Author: 
P.J. Dobell, Antiquarian Bookseller
Publication details: 
[Headed] P.J. & A.E. Dobell, Sons of the late Bertram Dobell, Dealers in Books, Manuscripts and Autograph Letters, 8 Bruton Street, New Bond Street, London W1, 20 & 23 Jan. 1926.
£125.00
Publishing history of Little Goody Two Shoes

Three pages, 4to, good condition. Harmsworth has obviously consigned two copies of the History of Little Goody Two Shoes to Dobell for evaluation and Dobell is now returning them with a learned disquisition on the publishing history of the work. He discusses the advertising and other background of the Newbery imprint, speculation on the rights being sold to a syndicate of booksellers (explaining worsening quality of printing), speculation on the undated one being pirated. He cites a memorandum by a British Library principal Librarian, J.

Archaeologia Aeliana: or, Miscellaneous Tracts, relating to Antiquity. Published by the Society of Antiquaries, of Newcastle upon Tyne. [Bound up by Rev. Joseph Cook of Newton Hall, with six significant manuscript and printed items.]

Author: 
Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne [Rev. Joseph Cook (1759-1844) of Newton Hall, Northumberland, Vicar of Chatton and Shilbottle; James Losh (1753-1833)]
Publication details: 
All volumes printed in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Volumes I and II: 1832. Printed by Sarah Hodgson, Union-Street. Volume III, parts I and II: 1840. T. and J. Hodgson, Union Street. Volume IV, part II: 1842. Printed by G. Bouchier Richardson.
£650.00

A total of six parts: Vols I and II complete in leather bindings; the rest (vol. III, pts I & II, and vol. IV, pt II, only) in original grey wraps with white paper printed labels. From the collection of the Rev. Joseph S. Cook, and with his bookplate by Bewick's studio (featuring his coat of arms, an illustration of Newton Hall, and a facsimile of his signature) in the first two volumes, and his ownership inscription to the two parts of vol. III. (Cook contributes a paper to the first volume.) Internally all parts are sound and tight, on lightly-aged paper.

[Printed Prospectus] The Satirist; or, Monthly Meteor.

Author: 
[Periodical; magazine]
Publication details: 
[Samuel Tipper, publisher, Leadenhall Street] T. Gillet, Printer, Wild-court
£125.00
The Satirist; or, Monthly Meteor.

Four pages, 8vo, sl. chipped and sunned but mainly good, stab-holes. It autlines plans and describes The Proprietors of the Satirist as a society of private gentlemen, whose literary connections are peculiarly extensive. They will follow the same spirited plan which fomerly distinguished the Antijacobin newspaper. Subjects to be Poetry, Literature, Theatre, Politics, etc. NoteThe Satirist survived 7 years re. CBEL (1807-1814)..

Redfield; or, A Visit to the Country. A Story for Children. With Four Illustrations by John Absolon. With letter from publisher with good content.

Author: 
Anon. [Mrs Parker Smith?]
Publication details: 
London: Bell & Daldy, 186, Fleet Street, 1858.
£480.00

90[6]pp., 8vo (six-page catalogue of Bell & Daldy's "New and Standard Publications" at end), in slipcase, green cloth in good condition, pattern in relief, gold motif of laurels surrounding the title, hinge strain at title/frontispiece, some speckling throughout, some pencilled underlining, and childish daubing of colour onto three of the illustrations. INSCRIBED as follows: "This book was written by my mother [letters crossd out] the stories read to me & Walter for our amusement in 1857-8 | J Parker Smith".

Autograph Note Signed from the General Baptist minister Jabez Burns ('J Burns') to the Paternoster Row publishers Houlston & Wright.

Author: 
Jabez Burns (1805-1876), General Baptist minister
Publication details: 
23 March 1855.
£56.00
Jabez Burns (1805-1876), General Baptist minister

Landscape 12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with light traces of mount adhering to the blank reverse. Asking for a copy of his 'Sermons for Families & Villages' ['Sermons chiefly designed for family reading and village worship', 1842] to be given to an individual, and 'put to my Account'.

Signed, sealed and witnessed vellum indenture for the apprenticeship of 'Robert Shaw Son of Robert Shaw of the City of Lichfield Book Seller'.

Author: 
Robert Shaw , eighteenth-century Lichfield bookseller
Publication details: 
10 September 1736.
£450.00
Robert Shaw , eighteenth-century Lichfield bookseller

Landscape 8vo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. Fair on aged vellum. Engraving of royal crest in top left-hand corner. Printed in small type and completed in manuscript. Three witnesses, including 'Rich. Robinson' and 'Walt: Robins'. Red wax seal of head, and government stamp on blue. Brief modern notes accompanying the item state that the elder Shaw was born in 1685, the son of the headmaster of Lichfield Grammar School (Johnson's old school), who died in 1704. There is no record of anything published by the Shaws, who do not feature in BBTI.

Typed Letter Signed to "Mr [J.E.] Scott", bibliographer of Rider Haggard, giving a publisher's response to Scott's bibliography of Haggard, but also revealing his own guidelines..

Author: 
Michael Sadleir, publisher, author, bookman.
Publication details: 
[Headed] Constable and Company Ltd, 10 Orange St, London, WC2, 7 Sept. 1945.
£80.00
Michael Sadleir, publisher, author, bookman

One page, 8vo, good condition. " I fully appreciate the pains and enthusiasm which have gone into your Bibliography of RIDER HAGGARD, and admire the thoroughness with which the job is done. But I am afraid that I cannot in present circumstances see the bookas a proposition for a general publisher. It is Bibliography pure and simple, and does not pretend to deal with Haggard as a writer or to use his career in illustration of developments in publishing history.

Forty-five glass slides of photographs of British nineteen-twenties dairy production.

Author: 
[British twentieth-century dairy industry; milk production; agriculture]
Publication details: 
[Nineteen-twenties.]
£280.00

All forty-five slides bound in 8 cm glass squares, with the black and white images themselves in good condition and unfaded. The slides, apparently from a newspaper picture library, all carry the label 'M57 637.1 Box 286', and are almost all captioned in manuscript. A good range of photographs, apparently taken in the nineteen-twenties.

Twenty-one glass slides of photographs of the funeral procession of King Edward VII through the streets of London, 1910.

Author: 
[Photographs of the funeral procession of King Edward VII through the streets of London, 1910]
Publication details: 
[London, 1910.]
£180.00

All twenty-one slides bound in 8 cm glass squares, with the black and white images themselves in good condition and unfaded, with only one slide damaged (glass shattered in a corner, not affecting image). All with labels numbered 394.5.

[printed draft copy] Dated 24th Day of September, 1883. Charing Cross Hospital. Royal Charter of Incorporation. Fladgate, Smith & Fladgate, 40, Craven Street, Street, Solicitors for the Hospital.

Author: 
[Charing Cross Hospital, London, Royal Charter of Incorporation, 1883]
Publication details: 
[London.] G. Norman and Son, Printers, Hart Street, Covent Garden. [Fladgate, Smith & Fladgate, 40, Craven Street, Solicitors for the Hospital.]
£125.00
Charing Cross Hospital, London, Royal Charter of Incorporation, 1883

Folio, 12 + [i] pp. Text clear and complete, with a few pencil underlinings. Aged and somewhat worn. Folded vertically in the centre to make the conventional long legal packet, with the right-hand side of the reverse of the last leaf (with is stamped in red with the number 273683) carrying the printed title, with the address of the solicitors altered in pencil to 18 Pall Mall SW1, and with two manuscript names deleted: 'Mr. Finlay. Q.C. | Mr. Rowland Gibson'. Unsigned draft copy. No copy of this historical item on COPAC.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jno Colpoys') from Admiral Sir John Colpoys, Governor of Greenwich Hospital, to James Sykes Jnr, regarding arrangements following the death of 'Poor Georgina'.

Author: 
Admiral Sir John Colpoys (c.1742-1821), Governor of Greenwich Hospital [Spithead Mutiny, 1797]
Publication details: 
3 June [1800].
£85.00
Admiral Sir John Colpoys (c.1742-1821)

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium, with the reverse of the second leaf carrying the address ('J. Sykes Esqr: | 22 Arundel Street | Strand', with two postmarks and docketing by Sykes. Nineteen lines. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, with wear to second leaf. Sykes 'will not be surprized to hear' that on the previous day 'Poor Georgina [...] paid the Great Debt'. Colpoys has arranged for her funeral to be 'conducted - in a Decent Private manner', and for her to be buried 'in the Parish of Kensington where she Died - Mr.

Autograph Signature ('W. H. Smyth') on part of letter from Admiral William Henry Smyth [to J. C. Webster].

Author: 
Admiral William Henry Smyth (1788-1865), Royal Navy, English sailor and astronomer [J. C. Webster, Secretary, Athenaeum Club, London]
Publication details: 
[24 December 1856.]
£75.00
Admiral William Henry Smyth (1788-1865)

On rectangle cut from letter, 7 x 11 cm. On dusty paper. Laid down on page removed from autograph album. Reads 'Wishing you the joys & compliments of the Season, believe me | Your's faithfully, | W. H. Smyth. -' Docketed by Webster at foot: '24/12/56. Admiral Smyth Vice President Royal Society a learned Pundit.' From Webster's autograph collection.

Collection of papers relating to the military career of General Sir William Cator, from the Peninsular War to the Crimean War (during which he was Director-General of Artillery). Comprising three commissions, a printed memoir, five manuscript items.

Author: 
General Sir William Cator (1785-1866), K.C.B., Royal Artillery, Director-General of Artillery during the Crimean War [British Army; Peninsular War]
Publication details: 
London, Constantinople and other places. From c. 1853 to c. 1866.
£450.00
Collection of papers relating to the military career of General Sir William Cato

An short account of Cator's career is to be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for June 1866. This collection of nine items is of particular importance, considering the fact that - remarkably for such a distinguished figure - he was not accorded a Times obituary, and has no entry in the Dictionary of National Biography. The absence of biographical material may be due to the contemporary criticism of Cator's department for its handling of the provision of supplies during the Crimean War. All items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with texts clear and complete.

Autograph Signature ('John P Gassiot') of the electrician John Peter Gassiot, FRS, on part of letter to J. C. Webster.

Author: 
John Peter Gassiot (1797-1877), electrician [James C. Webster, Secretary, the Athenaeum Club, London]
Publication details: 
28 February 1857; on letterhead of 77 Mark Lane, E.C.
£35.00
Autograph Signature ('John P Gassiot') of the electrician John Peter Gassiot, FR

On piece of paper cut from letter, 4.5 x 10.5. With both sides lightly-sprinkled with ink dots. Reads 'Believe me | Yours | John P Gassiot'. Reverse, with printed letterhead, gives the beginning of the letter: 'Sir | I was informed Yday Evg. that <...>'. Docketed by Webster 'Sent List | 28/2/57'. From Webster's autograph collection.

Letter, in a secretarial hand, signed by the Whig politician William Huskisson ('W. Huskisson'), to John Sweetland on Treasury business.

Author: 
William Huskisson (1770-1830), British Whig politician [John Sweetland, Principal Commissary of Stores and Provisions at Gibraltar; Stephenson's Rocket; railways; locomotives]
Publication details: 
11 August 1807; Treasury Chambers [London].
£125.00
William Huskisson (1770-1830), British Whig politician

Folio, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Removed from an album, and with docketing on second leaf slightly obsucred by thin strip of paper in margin. Written while Huskisson was Secretary to the Treasury, and requiring Sweetland to provide to the Lords Commissioners 'an account of the Revenues of Gibraltar for the last three Years distinguishing the amount under each head of Revenue and also a Statement fo all Payments charged upon the said Revenue'. Despite his achievements, Huskisson is now best-remembered as the first railway fatality.

Autograph Signature of the satirist John Wolcot ('J: Wolcot'), made when 'entirely blind', with autograph note by quaker and radical author Thomas 'Clio' Rickman.

Author: 
John Wolcot (1738-1819), English satirical author under the pseudonym 'Peter Pindar' [Thomas 'Clio' Rickman (1760-1834), quaker, radical author and friend of Thomas Paine]
Publication details: 
Signature dated by Rickman to 3 July 1809.
£165.00
Signature of the satirist John Wolcot

12mo, 2 pp, the autograph being on one side and Rickman's on the other. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mounting on one side. Large bold signature 'J: Wolcot' with biographical note on one side, and the note, signed 'Clio Rickman', on the other: Written by the celebrated Peter Pindar, when entirely blind, on my calling on him the 3d of July 1809 my boy with me'.

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