HOUSE

All three items lightly aged but good. Driberg has written 'TOM DRIBERG' at the head of the first page of both reviews. First Review (8vo, 7 pp) with slight wear at head (not affecting text) of first four leaves; last three leaves on House of Commons letterheads. With corrections. The subject is Daphne Fielding's 'The Rainbow Picnic' (1974). Second Review (8vo, 7 pp, on House of Commons letterheads) of four books about crossword puzzles, including Roger Millington's 'The Strange World of the Crossword' (1974). With corrections.

12mo: 1 p. On lightly spotted and creased paper. Quintessential doctor's handwriting. He is sorry he cannot be present 'to hear Dr 's paper', and that he cannot find time to write a paper himself. 'The subject is an interesting & important one, & is part of a still larger one <...?> physiologically considered'.

Scottish scholar, folklorist, poet and man of letters (1844-1912). Four pages, 12mo. Good, but the last page in particular grubby and stained. Shaky hand indicating old age. He wishes his correspondent (presumably a member of the noted firm of solicitors), 'or some other discreet and learned person, had seen the portrait [owned by Freshfield?] in its quite untouched condition. The eyes are not of the usual long heavy lidded kind, and the mouth is rather "restored," I think. | It should be of 1579, when Mary was allowed to send presents to James VI, which he was not allowed to accept.

Dickson (born 1850) was Tory M.P. for Glasgow, Lord Advocate and Lord Justice Clerk. The four letters, all 12mo and all on House of Commons Library notepaper, are dusty and creased. Three are dated (30 and 31 December and 2 January) and signed; the other letter is undated and initialed. LETTER ONE: 'I spoke to the Lord Advocate to-day & he then definitely informed me that the Lord President entirely approved of the Bill.' LETTER TWO: 'I have spoken to the Advocate about the date of the committee stage & we will I believe have some weeks yet.

4to: 1 p. 15 lines of text. Good, on lightly aged paper, with a light stain affecting but not obscuring a couple of words. Text clear and entire. Docketed on the reverse of the otherwise-blank second leaf of the bifolium.

8vo: [ii] + 18 pp. In worn original buff wraps with white printed label on front. Clear and complete. On aged, damp-stained paper. Presentation copy, with note on title-page: 'To John Lee Esqre. L.L.D. | with the Author's kind regards.' Ownership inscription of 'J. Lee. Hartwell. 3 May 1856.' also on title. Scarce.The only copies on COPAC at the British Library and the Society of Antiquaries.

12mo: [iv] + 35 pp. In original green cloth printed wraps. Text clear and complete. On aged high-acidity paper, and with four staple holes throughout. Creasing to front wrap and slight loss at head of title (not affecting text). In the 'Editor's Preface' (p.iii, dated 'V. TCHERTKOFF.

12 pp. Complete and clear, on browned high-acidity paper. According to one authority 'The People's Convention (P.C.) began life as the People's Vigilance Committee, set up by the Hammersmith Labour Party and Trades Council in July 1940. The leading figure was Denis Noel Pritt, a recently expelled Labour M.P., but the aims were very much in line with the policies of the Communist Party (C.P.) in that period of the Phoney War.' The Convention met in January 1941 and folded at the end of the year.

Both items 4to, 4 pp. Each a bifolium. Text clear and complete on aged, foxed and lightly-creased paper. Both items in small print, the first covering topics from Clay-Modelling to Needlework. Of interest is the section on 'Hygiene (Bare Outline)' which warns against ' "Chewing," harm of "bolting" food, over-eating, dangers of alcoholic liquors'. Number Two contains four time-tables divided into two groups: 'I. - Mixed Department' and 'II. - Infants'; and 'For a Rural School of 40 Scholars.', 'I. - Upper Division' and 'II. - Lower Division'. Scarce.

12mo: 4 pp. Bifolium with mourning border. 30 lines of text. Good. She has heard that he has 'been good enough to speak kindly of "Pauline" so far as it has gone', and wonders whether he would distribute, to 'such of yr. Friends as belong to Circulating Libraries', cards 'to let people know in time to order the book before it is out'. Her family are pleased that Macmillan has 'been able to spend a night at this beautiful sad home - It did my Father good, I know.

12mo: 36 pp. Stitched. In original blue printed wraps. Internally tight and clean, in worn and creased wraps. Signed 'T F Cattley' on title-page. In pencil at head of front wrap 'one of only 60'. A collection of jeux d'esprit, addressed to individuals only identified by their initials. Uncommon: copies on COPAC at the British Library, Oxford, National Library of Scotland and Trinity College Dublin.

8vo, 8pp. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Text complete and clear. Good: lightly-aged and creased. The order is on pp.1-3. Followed by (over five pages): 'SCHEDULE', consisting of 'Circuits of the Judges. Civil and Criminal.', 'Autumn Circuit. Criminal Business Only, except where otherwise stated.' and 'Easter Circuit.'

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium on grey paper. Text clear and complete, on aged, creased paper with 9 cm cut along gutter. Sotheby's hand is particularly difficult, but he appears, on the suggestion of his partner Wilkinson, to be proposing that 'a man shall be up with you on Monday Morning - 1/2 past 9 he can tie up and purchase the books & for removal on Tuesday. This plan will be better than taking them away in one day. It will prevent the loose paper falling out.'

Dimensions roughly 26 x 20 cm. Four printed pages, in a bifolium, stapled into coloured illustrated covers. A scarce piece of theatre ephemera, in reasonable condition: creased, with rusted wraps and with one short closed tear to front cover, which carries the words 'Adelphi Theatre. Sole Proprietors, A. & S. Gatti.' and an illustration, painted in an impressionist style, of a fashionable group dining. Stamped 'Saturday Feb 19'. The back cover, also in colour, carries an advertisement for 'Vinolia Toilet Preparations', with an illustration, entitled 'Envy', by 'W.

On a fragment, roughly 11 x 16 cm, of a page of laid paper from a diary. Good, on lightly aged paper. Two signatures, under the heading 'July 22': 'Spencer <?> | Steuart Wilson.' Lightly docketed in pencil.

On piece of laid paper (roughly 13 x 11 cm). Aged and chipped. Reads 'Yours truly | Frank Barrington Foote'. Chipping to the outer edge, very close to the last couple of letters of the signature. Foote, who frequently sang with Adelina Patti at Covent Garden, ended his days destitute in New York City.

Octavo: 29 + [2] pp. Unbound, stabbed and stitched. Slightly dogeared, on grubby, lightly-spotted paper. Loss to top right-hand corner of title-leaf (not affecting text). Two pages of advertisements at rear, headed 'Important pamphlets, etc. Recently published by James Ridgway, Piccadilly.'

Octavo: 28 pp. Unbound, stabbed and stitched. Slightly dogeared, on grubby, lightly-spotted paper. Loss to top right-hand corner of title-leaf (not affecting text). Marked up in ink in a contemporary hand. COPAC lists copies at the British Library, Manchester and National Library of Scotland. The 'Alabama Question' related to what indemnity should be paid by Great Britain for damage done to United States commerce by the Alabama and other confederate cruisers built in British ports.

Printed on one side of a piece of laid paper roughly 320 x 190 mm. On light-aged paper, with slight discoloration, and wear to the fold line repaired on the reverse with archival tape. Twenty-one lines of text, clear and entire, with 'Hinkford Hundred, in Essex}' in the left-hand margin.

12mo bifolium. Ellenborough's letter (15 lines of text) occupies the first leaf; with the pencil draft of Gough's reply (also 15 lines), with additions and deletions, on the recto of the second leaf. Very good, with traces of grey paper mount adhering in a thin strip to the reverse of the second leaf. Ellenborough will 'afford' Nichols 'every facility for the making of tracings from the Tiles at Southam'. If Nichols will let him know when he is coming he will 'make it a point to be here'. Suggests that Nichols might come 'after Church, about 2 o'clock, on Sunday next'.

12mo, 2 pp. Seventeen lines of text. On lightly aged and creased paper. Attractive arts and crafts letterhead. Sending his 'mosts profound sympathy in the danger which threatens Chelsea'. He will sign 'the paper [...] with the greatest of pleasure', although he anticipates 'very little good as a possible result'. Suggests a time at which the paper can be sent to him.

4to, 20 pp. The last page carries advertisements for the publisher Almon. Unbound; stitched. Good, with first and last leaves somewhat aged and chipped. Central vertical fold. A relatively uncommon item, with most of the entries on COPAC turning out to be for a microfilm reproduction.

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.

4to: 3 pp. A bifolium, mounted onto a larger piece of paper by a strip along the inner margin of the verso of the second leaf. Separated horizontally into two parts by a central tear which has been neatly repaired with archival tape, but with the 39 lines of text clear and entire. A signficant letter regarding the political climate in the County of Norfolk in the period preceding the general parliamentary election of 1768.

Ten pages printed on a total of the six leaves of three folio bifoliums (leaf dimensions roughly 40.5 x 25 cm). The first part, apparently intended to fold around the others, is unpaginated, and printed on the recto of the first leaf and the verso of the last leaf of the bifolium. Each page consists of a list, divided into three columns of small print, giving details of the vote, with the names of the members, their constituencies, and a key revealing biographical information (e.g. 'Privy-Counsellors' [sic] and 'for and against Maintaining the Hessian Troops').

Six leaves, each 35 x 28 cm, in original red printed wraps. The first four leaves consists of eight coloured postcards, each 8.5 x 13.5 cm, with perforations between them for ease of removal. The last two leaves each carry full-page landscape photographs, the first of Blackrock and the second of Blarney Castle. The wraps are heavily worn, and there is occasional staining and wear to the photographs, but overall this is a most attractive and evocative production, and a rare survival in its complete state (no other copies traced).

NOT in George. Dimensions of paper 27.5 x 41 cm. Dimensions of image 20.5 x 31.5. On aged, grubby paper with wear to extremities. Image entire, but with one closed tear intruding from right across 3 cm of the blue background, and three closed tears (the longest 4cm) horizontally across a central vertical crease. A splendid full-length figure of Wellington (entirely undamaged), in full military uniform, with boots, red coat with gold epaulettes, white breeches, gloves, and sword, flees, hands in air and plumed hat falling to the ground, from a giant pig with three human heads.

On both sides of a piece of laid paper roughly 39 x 24 cm. Good, on lightly creased paper with a little chipping and a few closed tears to extremities. Seventy-three items are listed, ranging from 'Proclamation of Election in Counties' to 'Certificate of Appointment', under six headings: 'Under Sheriffs (in Counties)', 'Returning Officers in Cities and Boroughs', 'Election Auditors', 'Election Agents in Counties', 'Election Agents in Cities and Boroughs' and 'Clerks to Justices in Cities and Boroughs'. Reverse gives four 'Specimens of Poll Books'.

16mo (roughly 11 x 8 cm), 1 p. Creased and ruckled, and with slight discolouration from previous mounting, and with a piece of the mount adhering to the blank reverse. Reads 'My dear Sir | I thank you for your letter and the information it contained. I write to Paris to have PP' book as soon as it is out. | Yours truly | [signed] Elisabeth'. Signature stylized to the point of illegibility. Piece of mount docketed in contemporary hand 'Elizabeth late Queen of Prussia'.

One page, minor staining not affecting text, laid down on grey coarse paper. "Here is the Cape Shipping List [perhaps including slavers?]. It's business-like details of murders by wholesale tell the cold blooded tales of horror more effectually than eloquent language. They [leave?] & lead the mind to imagine the terrible scenes enacted with poetical power which minute detail fails to [word excised "affect"] produce. I admire this brevity - it is inoffensively offensive. / I am grateful to you, my dear Sir, for your care of my daughter - your help to the helpless.