LITERARY

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Caricature by 'Ape' of 'Vanity Fair', titled 'Anecdotes', depicting the essayist and translator Abraham Hayward. With Autograph Note in the third person from Hayward to Viscountess Combermere.

Author: 
'Ape' [Carlo Pellegrini (1839-1889)], Vanity Fair caricaturist [Abraham Hayward (1801-1884), English essayist and translator; Mary Cotton [nee Mary Woolley Gibbings] (d.1889), Viscountess Combermere]
Publication details: 
The Vanity Fair caricature printed [London, 1875] by 'Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith.' Hayward's autograph note: '8 St. James St [London] | June 9 [no year]'.
£75.00

The 'Ape' cartoon: 21.5 x 32.5 cm. In good condition, on aged paper, with a neat horizontal fold 4 cm up from the bottom. Hayward's autograph note: 1p., 32mo. In good condition, on aged paper. It reads: 'Mr Heywood presents his compliments to Viscountess Combermere and has much pleasure in accepting her invitation to luncheon on Wednesday 21 June. | 8 St. James St | June 9'.

Unpublished holograph poem (signed 'J. F. Hollings') by the Leicester poet and local historian James Francis Hollings, entitled 'Edgehill', regarding the English Civil War battle, 1642.

Author: 
James Francis Hollings (1806-1862), poet and local historian, President of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society [Leicestershire; English Civil War; Battle of Edgehill, 1642;]
Publication details: 
Without place place or place, on paper with watermarked date 1831. [Leicester, 1830s?]
£220.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. On wove paper watermarked 'R TASSELL | 1831'. 56 lines, arranged in seven eight-line stanzas. Presentable, despite wear and age, closed tears along crease lines, and traces of yellow-paper mount on blank reverse of second leaf. There is no sign that this item was ever published, which is surprising, as it is a superior effort, written with some conviction, the subject being one on which Hollings was regarded as an authority.

[Offprint.] The Wilde Lecture. V. The Mechanical Principles of Flight. By the Rt. Hon. Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S. Delivered February 13th, 1900.

Author: 
Rt. Hon. Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt (1842-1919), 3rd Baron Rayleigh, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics] [The Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society]
Publication details: 
Manchester: 36, George Street. 26 April 1900. [Manchester Memoirs, Vol. lxiv. (1899), No. 5; Memoirs and Proceedings of The Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society 1899-1900.]
£95.00

26pp., 12mo. Stitched. In remains of original printed wraps. On aged paper, in chipped wraps, with several leaves loose. An important work in the history of eronautics by one of the great experimental physicists of the nineteenth century. Excessively scarce: no copy of this offprint in the British Library or on COPAC. 'In this lecture Rayleigh discusses the method of calculating the mechanical forces on a plane presented obliquely to a current of air, so far as this can be done. At best, the calculation is very incomplete.

Copy of Two Typed Letters from the London publisher Martin Secker to the Scots-Canadian author Frederick Niven, the first asking for 'one more chance' to publish his work. With typed copies of two of Niven's replies, the first extremely critical.

Author: 
Frederick Niven [Frederick John Niven] (1878-1944), Scots-Canadian writer [Martin Secker [Percy Martin Secker Klingender] (1882-1978), London publisher; J. B. Pinker, literary agent]
Publication details: 
Secker: both from Number Five, John Street, Adelphi; 26 and 28 February 1913. Niven: both from Holmleigh, Church Hill, Loughton, Essex; 27 February and 2 March 1913.
£280.00

Sent by Niven to his literary agent J. B. Pinker, whose date stamp is on the first of Secker's letters. All four items in fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Secker's first letter: 1p., 4to. He begins by praising 'Denny's display' [a window display of Niven's work in Denny's bookshop in the Strand]: 'I am wondering whether you managed to get the photograph into any of the papers. Shall I send it to the Bookman?' He continues: 'The sales [of Niven's novel The Porcelain Lady] up to date amount to 434 in England.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Lancashire antiquary Charles Hardwick, Grand Master of the Manchester Unity Order of Odd-Fellows, to J. T. Baron of Blackburn, regarding his history of 'The Provident Institutions of the Working Classes'.

Author: 
Charles Hardwick (1817-1889) of Preston, Lancashire, antiquary, Grand Master of the Manchester Unity Order of Odd-Fellows, and Vice-President of the Manchester Literary Club
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 'The Odd-Fellows' Quarterly Magazine, the Organ of the "I.O.O.F. Manchester Unity Friendly Society'. 7 March 1882.
£90.00

1p., 12mo. On bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In original stamped and postmarked envelope, initialed by Hardwick. In the letter Hardwick informs Baron that his 'History' (published in 1851) is out of print: 'The few remainders were sold about four years ago.' He recently saw a copy 'in one of hte Manchester second hand booksellers' catalogues on sale for 17/6'. He gives the names of two booksellers to approach ('Gray, 25, Cathedral Yard, or Sutton, Portland-st. Oxford st.') and is forwarding 'a circular respecting my forthcoming work' (not present).

Autograph Letter Signed from Emma Roberts, author of 'Scenes and Characteristics of Hindostan', to William Jerdan, editor of the 'Literary Gazette'

Author: 
Emma Roberts (1791-1840), author and traveller in India [William Jerdan (1782-1869), editor of the 'Literary Gazette'; Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834), London publisher]
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but between 1826 and 1829.
£280.00

1p., 8vo. 22 lines. Fair, on aged and worn paper. Addressed on reverse to 'William Jerdan Esqr | Grove House'. On wove paper watermarked 'G & R TURNER | 1826'. The letter can thus be dated from between 1826 and 1829, the year 'Ackermann's Repository of the Arts' ceased publication. Written in a difficult, hurried hand. She has received a letter from 'Mr Ackermann', saying that the package which Jerdan was 'kind enough to promise should go in your bag yesterday I having given it to you too late for the boy on Monday, has not reached him'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. E. Griffis') from the American orientalist William Elliot Griffis to the Editor of the Literary World [Edward Abbott], Boston, sending 'notices of House and Boulger'.

Author: 
William Elliot Griffis (1843-1928), American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and author [Edward Abbott (1841-1908), editor of the Boston 'Literary World' from 1878 to 1888]
Publication details: 
Schenectady, New York. 24 October 1881.
£40.00

1p., 12mo. Very good, neatly tipped-in onto a piece of card. On sending the 'notices of House and Boulger', Griffis finds 'little or nothing to commend in the latter, and its title is misleading'. He asks to be sent other works 'as you receive them'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('G R Gleig') from George Robert Gleig, Chaplain of Chelsea Hospital, to the editor of the Literary Gazette William Jerdan'. With portrait.

Author: 
George Robert Gleig (1796-1888), Scottish soldier and author, Chaplain to the Chelsea Hospital, Chaplain-General of the Forces, Inspector-General of Military Schools [William Jerdan (1782-1869)]
Publication details: 
Place not stated; 'Tuesday evng' [postmarked 21 February 1827]
£56.00

3pp., 12mo. A bifolium, with the reverse of the second leaf addressed by Gleig to Jerdan at Grove House, Brompton, and carrying a red postmark and Gleig's seal in black wax. Gleig cannot accept Jerdan's offer of 'admissions for the opera' himself, 'but some most particular friends' of his have 'just come to town', and if he were to 'transfer' his 'kindness' to them, Gleig would be obliged. He gives alternative dates, and an address for the tickets to be sent to.

Autograph Letter Signed ('John S. Hart') from the American author and educator John Seely Hart, Principal of the Central High School, Philadelphia, to 'G. Harry Davis', accepting his election as an honorary member of the Irving Literary Institute.

Author: 
John Seely Hart (1810-1877), American author and educator, Professor of Languages at Princeton, Principal of Central High School, Philadelphia [G. Henry Davis, Secretary, Irving Literary Institute]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Central High School, Philadelphia; 15 May 1856.
£60.00

1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper. The letterhead features a steel engraving of the monolithic Central High School. Hart has received Davis' letter informing him that he has been 'elected an Honorary Member of the "Irving Literary Institute".' He asks Davis to 'communicate to the members of the Institute my thanks for the honor conferred, & say that I accept it with sincere pleasure.' Hart writes 'Mr. G. Harry Davis, | Secretary &c -', but the middle name is given as 'Henry' in printed texts.

Autograph Letter Signed from the poet and engraver Charles Swain to a lady (name obliterated), complaining of the problems that prevent him from paying a visit, and referring to William Jerdan.

Author: 
Charles Swain (1801-1874), poet and engraver [William Jerdan (1782-1869), editor of the Literary Gazette]
Publication details: 
Prestwich Park, Prestwich, near Manchester; [c.1853].
£80.00

4pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear friend', and with the name of the recipient obliterated from the valediction: 'Will you give my sincere and grateful remembrances to your noble hearted husband? and believe me | dear <...> | Every affectionately, | [signed] Charles Swain'. He can put off 'the evil day' no longer, and must now 'give in to circumstances' and reluctantly inform her that he cannot come and visit.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Dudley Coutts Stuart | Vice-Presid[ent]') from Lord Dudley Stuart to James Wyld, Member of Parliament for Bodmin, as Vice-President of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland, on behalf of a Polish refugee.

Author: 
Lord Dudley Stuart [Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart] (1803-1854) [James Wyld (1812-1887), cartographer and Member of Parliament for Bodmin]
Publication details: 
3 April 1840; on letterhead of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland, Sussex Chambers, Duke Street, St. James's.
£95.00
Lord Dudley Stuart [Lord Dudley Coutts Stuart] (1803-1854) [James Wyld (1812-188

12mo, 3 pp. Text clear and complete. Worn and aged, with pinholes and unobtrusive repair to closed tears. The 'kindness' Wyld has 'always shewn to the Poles' makes Stuart sure that he will attend to his recommendation of 'Captain Thadeus Grubski, one of the Polish Refugees who bears a very high character'. By employing him Wyld would 'render an essential servie to a deserving man much in need of it, and confer a favor as well on this association in general', and on Stuart in particular.

[Printed catalogue.] Catalogue of the Library of the Belgrave Literary and Scientific Institution.

Author: 
[The Belgrave Literary and Scientific Institution, Sloane Street, Chelsea; James Cook Evans; nineteenth-century lending libraries]
Publication details: 
July, 1837. Chelsea: Printed for the Institution, by William Blatch, 23, Exeter Street, Sloane Street.
£225.00

12mo, 48 pp. Disbound. Incomplete, ending at foot of page 48 with 'Wilson's (H. C.) Pastorals of the Season, 8vo. [1]834', and lacking the 'Regulations of the Library [...] printed at the end of the Catalogue', advertised on p.3. On lightly aged paper, with the only fault a small hole through the title leaf removing the first five letters of the word 'Belgrave' on the recto, and the 'atal' in 'Catalogue' on the verso. Scarce: no copy in the British Library or on COPAC or WorldCat.

[Prospectus of the Biographia Britannica Literaria WITH] An Essay on the State of Literature and Learning under the Anglo-Saxons; Introductory to the First Section of the Biographia Britanica Literaria of the Royal Society of Literature

Author: 
Thomas Wright
Publication details: 
London, 1839
£180.00
Prospectus of the Biographia Britannica Literaria

4; [iv],112pp., 8vo, plain brown wraps (original?), worn and nearly detached, contents good. Inscribed on half-title: Presented to the Rt Honble the Lord Brougham & Vaux by his obedt Servt Wm. Tooke | Russell Square 6 Augt 1839. Tooke was the major promoter of the Biographia Britannica Literaria.

Substantial Autograph Letter Signed from Herbert Palmer to Amy Cruse, discussing in detail the relative merits of his book 'Post-Victorian Poetry' and her 'After the Victorians', with unsigned autograph draft of Cruse's reply.

Author: 
Herbert Palmer [Herbert Edward Palmer] (1880-1961), English poet [Amy Cruse, English author]
Publication details: 
Both Palmer's letter and the copy of Cruse's reply undated [both circa 1938]. Palmer's letter from 22 Batchwood View, St Albans, Herts.
£285.00
Substantial Autograph Letter Signed from Herbert Palmer to Amy Cruse

Both items good, on lightly-aged paper. Palmer's letter: 4to, 6 pp. Text clear and complete. He begins by apologising if his letter to her 'sounded very ungracious': 'I was unaware at the time that you had made any acknowledgement to me, and as I have had my brains picked so frequently without acknowledgment (including, of course, plagiarisms from my poems) I was again feeling rather depressed & exasperated'. While describing her book as 'really [...] very good' and 'reliable', he suggests a number of changes, giving examples of 'where we clash'.

Catalogue of Manuscripts for Sale, and other items

Author: 
No author. [Literary Agents]
Publication details: 
The London Literary Society (Inst. 1879) Publishers, and Authors Agents, 376 Strand, London, [c.1885-1887].
£80.00

Two items sewn together, with additional two ALSs dividing them, disbound, no wraps. First item: (Printed) "Catalogue of Manuscripts for Sale", 16pp. 8vo, inc. title, trimmed at bottom with slight loss of text, initially listing subscribing authors by name or by the titles of books they have published, also listing other subscribersand giving the name of the secretary, J. Playster Steed. Classes of works are then listed (from novels to theology, offer made of "proof slips 3 vol. novels . . . previous to publication in book form (section headed "Provincial Press").

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. T. Headley') to George R. Graham, editor of Graham's Magazine.

Author: 
Joel Tyler Headley (1813-1897), American clergyman and author, Secretary of State of New York [George R. Graham (1813-1894), Philadelphia publisher]
Publication details: 
New York April' [no date].
£125.00

4to, 1 p. Bifolium. Addressed, with postmark, on reverse of second leaf. Good, on aged paper. In a hurried hand, with numerous corrections. Relating to the publication of 'articles of poetry from a lady'.

Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland 1888. [Inscribed by the contributor Rose Kavanagh.]

Author: 
Rose Kavanagh (1860-1891), John Todhunter, Katherine Tynan, W. B. Yeats, Patrick Henry, T. W. Rolleston, Charles Gregory Fagan, Ellen O'Leary, Frederick J. Gregg, George Noble Plunkett, contributors
Publication details: 
Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, O'Connell Street. 1888.
£600.00

Wade A289. 12mo: viii + 80 pp and errata slip. In original cream buckram binding, with title and harp decoration in gilt on front board. Black endpapers. Internally tight, on aged and spotted paper. Binding grubby, stained and worn, with slight damage at head and foot of spine. Some ink marking to the fourth stanza of the dedicatory poem to John O'Leary (p.1). Housed in a green solander box. Inscribed at head of title: 'Elizabeth Monteagle from Rose Kavanagh | June 21. 88'.

Printed address, in poster form, by the Presidents of the China Moslem Literary Society of Shanghai, and the Moslem Board of Education of Shanghai, 'To his Most Gracious Majesty King Farouk I of Egypt'.

Author: 
Haji Helal-ud-Din, President, The China Moslem Literary Society of Shanghai; Abdul-ur-Rahman Ma Tsin Ching, President, The Moslem Board of Education of Shanghai [King Farouk I of Egypt; India; China]
Publication details: 
Shanghai, 28th December 1937.'
£75.00

On one side of a piece of shiny art paper, 39 x 43 cm. The printed part is clear and entire, on creased and aged paper with chipping to extremities. The typography is a curious mixture, with the heading in gothic, and the fourteen-line address and the rest of the text in sansserif. A decorative picture-frame border extends around the sides and foot. Ornate initial and vertical decorative band to left-hand margin of text. To the right of the names of the two signatories are Chinese characters.

A large collection of unpublished material, mostly typewritten, towards a thesis entitled 'William Hazlitt, A Study of his Character & Works'. With a large collection of newspaper and magazine extracts and other printed matter relating to Hazlitt.

Author: 
John Cuming Walters (1863-1933), Editor of the Manchester City News and Manchester Evening Chronicle [William Hazlitt; C. H. Herford]
Publication details: 
Circa 1914.
£150.00

A specialist on Dickens and Tennyson, Cuming Walters was for many years a central figure in the literary life of the north-west of England. Shortly before his death (and as reported in The Times, 28 April 1932) he boasted of having written 'between 15,000 and 20,000 leading articles, nearly 20,000 reviews of books, 8,000 dramatic notices, and 15,000 special articles. He had published about 20 books and had written 250 lectures.' The present collection is divided into two parts. A.

Twelve Autograph Letters Signed to W.M. Colles, Literary Agent.

Author: 
James Payn.
Publication details: 
8 Aug.[1891] - 1 Nov. [1892]
£300.00

Novelist and editor Chambers Journal, Cornhill Magagzine (1883-1896), 1830-1898 (see DNB). Total 17 pages, 8vo, some letters dated by another hand (Colles?), on most Payn has put day and month but no year. A difficult hand. Subjects include: Australian mail; agreement with Tillotson (syndication); rights for Austrlia and India for something, "the neighbourhood of Sheffield would be the only forbidden ground"; "we must not dun Mr C"; "still reading [Norris'?] book; it is rather thin - . ..

Autograph Letter Signed ('J A Froude') to Adolphus.

Author: 
James Anthony Froude (1818-1894), English historian [John Leycester Adolphus (c.1794-1862), barrister and writer]
Publication details: 
12 November [no year, but before 1863]. On embossed letterhead of 8 Clifton Place, Hyde Park, London.
£35.00

12mo: 2 pp. Sixteen lines of text. Good. He is 'very anxious to be introduced' at the Literary Society and 'to take advantage of [Adolphus's] kindness in proposing' him. Gives reasons for not having attending any of the Society's dinners.

Short Poems and Sacred Verses. Third Series.

Author: 
A. S. [minor Victorian poetry; nineteenth-century devotional verse]
Publication details: 
London: 1895. [Printed for Private Circulation.]' [London: G. E. Waters, Printer, 97, Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, W.'
£100.00

12mo: iv + 164 pp. In original green cloth, with the title in gilt on the front cover. All edges gilt. Slightly foxed. Good and tight, in lightly worn cloth. A curious collection, with the index of first lines containing such entries as 'Sweet Edgbaston bells' [this poem dated 1844], 'Dear Varinka', ' 'Twas a boy in a cut-off jacket' and 'They call me little Trottie'. All three series are excessively scarce. The only copy of this third series on COPAC is in the British Library, and the only copy on WorldCat in California.

Two issues of 'The Literary Fly'.

Author: 
[Sir Herbert Croft (1751-1815), editor] 'The Literary Fly' [Christopher Etherington, bookseller, printer and typefounder, No. 25, St. Paul's Church-Yard]
Publication details: 
Number 13: 10 April 1779. Number 14: 17 April 1779. 'Printed and Published by Etherington, at No 25, opposite the South Door of St. Paul's'.
£100.00

Both issues 8vo (roughly 30.5 x 19.5 cm), 6 pp (each a loose leaf in a bifolium). Both printed on brittle watermarked laid paper. Both unbound, and stabbed as issued, and both on aged and chipped paper, but with the text clear and entire. Each issue with the title in an expansive calligraphic design. The full slug, at the bottom of the last page of both issues, reads: 'Printed and Published by ETHERINGTON, at No 25, opposite the South Door of St. Paul's (where Letters, post-paid, to the LITERARY FLY will be received).

Autograph Letter Signed ('Ernest Havet'), in French [to someone living in Sainte-Beuve's old house].

Author: 
Eugène Auguste Ernest Havet (1813-1889), French scholar.
Publication details: 
21 February 1872; Vitry.
£56.00

16mo: 1 p. 14 lines of text. Close hand. He is touched that Sainte-Beuve has found time, in the midst of his labours, to write a letter expressing his 'adhésion'. 'Je suis heureux de penser, en vous écrivant rue Montparnasse [Sainte-Beuve lived at no. 11], que la philosophie et l'esprit d'indépendence ont toujours un ami dans la maison de Sainte-Beuve'.

Oda en elogio de la Marina Española, por Doña María Rosa de Galvez.

Author: 
Dona María Rosa de Gálvez [Maria Rosa Galvez de Cabrera] (1768-1806)
Publication details: 
Madrid: En la Imprenta de Repullés. 1806.
£400.00

4to, 12 pp. Disbound and stitched. Very good. The poem covers pp. 3-11, with five 'Notas' on p. 12. Scarce (in the Anglo-Saxon world at least): COPAC only lists a copy at the British Library. Includes a passage on Nelson and 'el feroz Britano'. No copy found in Sanish Union Catalogue etc. (accessed through German Union Catalogue).

Offprint of article entitled 'Thomas Randolph. A Neglected Poet. 1605-1634.'

Author: 
Mrs Reginald Brown [Thomas Randolph (1605-1635); Northampton Natural History Society and Field Club]
Publication details: 
[Journal of the Northampton Natural History Society and Field Club, 1932.]
£56.00

8vo: 11 pp (on 6 leaves) paginated 127-137. Plate carrying portrait of Randolph facing p.132. Stitched and unbound. Heavily foxed, and with a central vertical fold. PRESENTATION COPY, with the words 'With the writer's Compliments.' at head of p.127. The source of the article is deduced from the information contained on the verso of final leaf, which is headed '56th Annual Report, 1932.' No copy of this offprint listed on COPAC.

The Troth. A Play in One Act

Author: 
Rutherford Mayne, pseud. [i.e. Samuel Waddell], Irish playwright.
Publication details: 
Dublin : Maunsel & Co., 1909
£125.00

First edition. Original green wraps, title in red, 14pp, 8vo, wraps frayed and sunned (or grubby) at edges, contents good. Scarce: COPAC lists two copies (BL and NLS).

The Turn of the Road. . . A Play in Two Scenes and An Epilogue

Author: 
Rutherford Mayne, pseud. [i.e. Samuel Waddell], Irish playwright.
Publication details: 
Dublin : Maunsel & Co., 1907
£200.00

First edition. Original green wraps, title in red, 14pp, 8vo, wraps partially detached, frayed and sunned (or grubby) at edges, contents good. INSCRIBED by the author: "To Norman Morrow / With the compliments of the Author//". Morrow was a member of a family which involved itself in set design and related ativity for the Ulster Literary Theatre. Scarce: COPAC lists two copies (BL and Trinity, Dublin).

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alaric Watts') [to Mr Limbird?].

Author: 
Alaric Watts [Alaric Alexander Watts] (1797-1864), English journalist and poet [keepsakes; The Literary Souvenir]
Publication details: 
28 November 1828; 58 Torrington Square, London.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. On aged, creased apper, but with text clear and entire. A small piece of paper from a bottom corner has been torn away in opening the letter, and is still present on the reverse, under a red wax seal bearing a clear impression of a lyre and the words 'Addolcire ed Maturare'. Brief communication apologising for the fact that the Literary Souvenir has not reached him sooner. 'The omission is the sin of my booksellers and not mine'. He is sending a copy with the letter, and asks him to accept his thanks, 'for your courtesy'.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'R. Steggall' [perhaps the organist Reginald Steggall].

Author: 
James Orton, English Victorian poet
Publication details: 
12 May 1875; 86 Usher Road, Old Ford, London.
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, with spotting to second leaf of bifolium. Steggall and Orton's 'mutual friend (our very dear friend)' Mrs. Kent has written to tell Orton that Steggall 'will be happy to see my son on Saturday evening at 6'. Orton is grateful to Steggall for thinking 'of my anxiety to retain him with me after our long & to me at least terrible separation'. He is very grateful to Steggall, who is joined to Orton by a 'link of friendship which passes through to my two dear friends Mrs. Kent and Mrs. Atherstone'.

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