ILLNESS

Pamphlet: 19pp., small 4to. Stapled pamphlet in cream wraps, with the Hospital's arms printed in gold on front cover. On shiny art paper, with full-page frontispiece, seven illustrations in text, and two maps at rear. Internally in fair condition, lighty-aged; in worn wraps with slight discolouration to the back. Uncommon. No copy at the British Library; four copies on COPAC, all at London libraries (Guildhall; King's College; Bishopsgate; Wellcome); and only one more copy (Yale) on OCLC WorldCat. Programme: 2pp., 4to, on a single leaf. In fair condition, aged and worn, neatly folded.

The fifteen items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The minutes are 5pp., foolscap 8vo, and are docketted: '8. Augt 1850 | Lunatic Asylum | Minutes of Comee | To be entd. in Minute Book inserting in their places Papers 1. 2. & 3.' The document is headed: 'At a Meeting held pursuant to adjournmt at the Asylum on Thursday the 8th. of August 1850. | Present, John Wilks Esqre, in the Chair | George Baillie Esqre | Marlbrorough Pryor Esqre | Thomas Russell Esqre | John Townend Esqre | Walter Buchanan Esqre | Valentine Knight Esqre | Henry Warner Esqre | Benjn. Mo.

11pp., 12mo. Stitched. With stamp, shelfmarks and labels of the Board of Education Reference Library. Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC in the library of the Royal College of Surgeons.

These volumes bear tragic testimony to a diseased mind. A native of Argentina, Hume saw service in the First World War with the 1st County of London Yeomanry at Gallipoli, before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps (66 Squadron, RFC and RAF). In May 1917, while on his second patrol, he was shot down over France. It was while incarcerated in several POW camps (he escaped from one) that Hume's mental illness appears to have begun to manifest itself, and he was exchanged for German prisoners in August 1918.

Striking vellum document, 60 x 75 cm. Docketed on reverse. 32 lines of text, ruled with red lines, with ornate engraved decorative border along three sides, headed in large letters 'Victoria by the Grace of God', and depicting the young Queen, the royal crest, a crown held by a cherub, blind justice, and other images. Tax stamp in margin and frayed ribbon at foot. On 9 September [V Geo.

8vo: [ii] + 69 pp. Stapled pamphlet. In original light-blue printed wraps. Text clear and complete. In fair condition, on aged paper, slightly dogeared and with rusted staples, in creased and worn wraps. A singular production of profound psychiatric interest. Carries the following announcement on the title: 'I have now cleared my character to the world from the aspersions (that I deserted my friend by going to America and that I soon after married) which my enemies cast upon it.

Shaw (1872-1938) was Secretary of State for War in Ramsay Macdonald's Labour administration. Twenty pages, quarto. Paginated by author. On one side each of twenty leaves of high-acidity paper, discoloured with age and fraying at extremities. Text entirely legible, but with some loss at head of each leaf and particular damage to the final one (affecting signature). A singular psychological case: the astounding rantings of a lunatic, replete with underlinings, capital letters and exclamation marks.