LITERATURE

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Autograph Letter Signed, "Maeterlinck", to an unnamed correspondent

Author: 
Maurice Maeterlinck
Publication details: 
Abbaye de St Mandrille, 10 Oct. 1912
£100.00

Iin French. One page, 8vo. He is sorry that he does not know Gerard (Gerhard) Hauptmann's work well enough to "rendre . . . hommage", pass judgement not sufficiently "motive", "ne serait pas digne du poete dont une sorte de justice litteraire immanente m'a appris a venerer le nous(?)". (Hauptmann received the Nobel Prize for literature in this year, 1912.)

Remembering Henry Miller: A Collage. A Henry Miller Centenary Celebration. Script compiled and arranged by Francine Parker.

Author: 
Francine Parker, editor [Henry Miller]
Publication details: 
October 26, 1991. Lenart Auditorium, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA. A program of UCLA Extension's Department of Humanities, Sciences, and Social Sciences.
£450.00

Jackson/Ashley A272. Unpublished. 43 pages in A4 (unpaginated title and pages 1-42). Perfect bound with black cloth spine in light-green wraps with title duplicated on front wrap. Very good, with top corner of front wrap slightly dogeared. With four photocopied A4 pages of typescript loosely inserted: the first carrying 'The Naked Tongue' by Diane Miller; the second 'Religious Views of Life'; the third, headed 'Remembering Henry Miller: A Collage', giving details of cast and crew; the fourth headed 'Celebrating Henry Miller: A Collage includes selections from the following:'. Scarce.

The Lintie o' Moray, being a Collection of Poems, chiefly composed for and sung at the Anniversary of the Edinburgh Morayshire Society. From 1829 to 1841.

Author: 
[George Cumming, ed.; William Hay] [Edinburgh Morayshire Society]
Publication details: 
Forres: Printed at the Gazette Office. 1851.
£180.00

8vo: iv + 82 pp. Erratum slip. In original embossed green cloth, gilt. Rebacked and with new endpapers. Tight copy on aged paper with minor wear to extremities. Inscribed on flyleaf 'To Mrs Wane with The Editor's best regards. April 1858.' Minor manuscript changes (by editor?) to p.2 ('our little volume shall' altered to 'our "Little Warbler" shall'). Anonymously edited, with seven-page 'Preface and Dedication' dated 'London, 1850', by George Cumming. The majority of the songs are by 'W. H.' (i.e. William Hay).

Autograph Signature ('W Gordon-Stables | MD - RN').

Author: 
William Gordon Stables (1840-1910), Scottish Royal Navy physician and writer of adventure stories
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£20.00

On a piece of paper roughly 7 x 10 cm. Laid down on a piece of card. Fair, rucked and grubby, with traces of previous mount adhering to the reverse. Presmuably in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'I wish thee well | [signed] W Gordon-Stables | MD - RN'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to 'Dear France'.

Author: 
Edgar Jepson [Edgar Alfred Jepson] (1863-1938), English writer of detective fiction, sometimes under the name 'R. Edison Page'
Publication details: 
Letter One: 17 May 1907; Hillfarance, Elm Road, Wembley. Letter Two: 29 June 1907; 23 Bath Road, Bedford Park. London W.
£95.00

Both items in fair condition, on lightly-aged and foxed paper. Letter One: 12mo (15 x 10 cm), 1 p. He thanks him 'for the Tickets': 'we are looking forward to seeing you act. I shall be very pleased to come to smoke a cigarette after the first act off the Duel.' ('The Duel' was produced at the Garrick Theatre, London, in 1907.) Letter Two: 12mo, 2 pp. He thanks him 'for the excellent evening you gave me at The Coronet the other night. | The Incubus is an admirable play, and admirably acted.' He hopes France 'had a good week of it': 'I told innumerable people not to miss it.'

Autograph Signature ('Steph: Waller') on detached flyleaf of a book, with shelfmark in autograph.

Author: 
Stephen Waller (1654-1706), son and executor of the poet Edmund Waller (1606-1687)
Publication details: 
No date or place.
£75.00

On a piece of laid paper, roughly 14 x 9 cm. Good, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Reads 'Steph: Waller | (Eng. 21)'. Docketed in ink on lower part of same page: 'Flyleaf of Book from Library o Stephen Waller - 2nd. Son of Edmund Waller, the poet, and one of t Commisisoners appointed by Quee Anne on the Union between Scotland and England -'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('G. F. Hamilton') to 'My dear Harmsworth' (Viscount Northcliffe?). With a copy of his booklet translation: 'In St. Patrick's Praise: The Hymn of St. Secundinus (Sechnall)'.

Author: 
[G. F. Hamilton, Rector of Moylough, Co. Galway] [Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe]
Publication details: 
Letter dated 13 March 1919; on letterhead of the Rectory, Moylough, Co. Galway. Booklet: Dublin: The Church of Ireland Printing and Publishing Co., Ltd., 61 Middle Abbey Street.
£125.00

Letter: 12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Begins 'Your hands must be full just now, judging from the Daily Papers.' He presents the 'booklet' as 'a small memento of friendship for you', and describes as 'just published by me on a hymn considered (by Bernard, Bury etc.) to be a contemporary of St. Patrick. An 11th. cent MS. containing it is in T. C. D. Library. And it is also given in a 7th. cent. MS. at Milan.' Postscript referring to an article he has sent Harmsworth, 'for which I received thanks (quite unsolicited) of the Prof. of English Literature, T.C.D.!

A Letter to the Editor of the British Review, occasioned by the notice of "No Fiction," and "Martha," in the last number of that work. [Annotated copy of Francis Barnett (the 'Lefevre' of Reed's 'No Fiction') bound up with a review of the two books.]

Author: 
Andrew Reed (1787-1862), Congregational minister [Francis Barnett (b.1785)]
Publication details: 
[1823?] London: Printed by H. Teape, Tower-hill: Sold by Francis Westley, Stationers' Court, and the other booksellers.
£850.00

Excessively scarce, with no copy in the British Library and the only copy on COPAC at Cambridge, where it is tentatively dated to 1823. 8vo: 80 pp. Followed by five leaves (pp.373-382) from 'The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle' for 1839, in which an anonymous review of Reed's two books features on pp.378-382. Interleaved (all blank). In simple contemporary blue-grey half-binding with cloth spine and corners and marbled boards. Tight copy on aged paper in worn binding. Neat contemporary repair to blank reverse of title. The circumstances of this publication are as follows.

Beltaine. An Occasional Publication. The Organ of the Irish Literary Theatre. Edited by W. B. Yeats.

Author: 
W. B. Yeats, editor; George Moore, Edward Martyn, W. B. Yeats, Alice Milligan, and Augusta Gregory, contributors [Irish literature]
Publication details: 
Number Two. February 1900. London: At the Sign of the Unicorn, VII Cecil Court, Saint Martin's Lane, W.C.
£200.00

4to, 28 + [iv] pp. In original buff printed wraps. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with rust to staples causing detached covers. Nicely printed. Advertisements on the last four pages and three sides of the wraps.

Dana. An Irish Magazine of Independent Thought.

Author: 
Stephen Gwynn, Edward Dowden, George Moore, F. Hugh O'Donnell, John Eglinton, Hon. W. Gibson, contributors [Irish literature; Ireland]
Publication details: 
No.3. July 1904. Publishers: Hodges, Figgis & Co., Ltd. Grafton Street, Dublin; David Nutt, 57-59 Long Acre, London, W.C.
£50.00

12mo, 32 pp (paginated 65-96). Stapled. In original grey printed wraps. On aged and foxed paper, in worn wraps. Closed tears to last leaf and back wrap, which carries tape from postage. Contains 'The Policy of the Irish Party' by Stephen Gwynn, 'A Sunday in July (Poem)' by 'Professor Dowden', 'Moods and Memories, IV' by George Moore, 'The Facts of the Churchbuilding Question in Ireland' by F. Hugh O'Donnell, 'On Going to Church' by John Eglinton, 'On the Possibility of a Thought Revival in Ireland' and 'Hon. W. Gibson'.

The Dublin Magazine. A Quarterly Review of Literature, Science and Art. [Featuring 'Diarmuid and Grania. A Play in Three Acts. By George Moore and W. B. Yeats. Now first printed with an introductory note by William Becker'.]

Author: 
Seumas O'Sullivan, editor [George Moore; W. B. Yeats]
Publication details: 
April-June 1951. [Printed by Alex. Thom & Co. Ltd., Dublin.]
£20.00

4to, x + 64 pp. In original grey printed wraps. In fair condition: on aged paper, with slightly dog-eared with a little creasing and a couple of short closed tears at rear. In lightly-worn wraps. Becker's introduction to 'Diarmuid and Grania', dated 'Oxford, November, 1950', covers pp.1-4, with the play itself on pp.5-41. This is followed by 'Dramatic Commentary' (not on the play) by A. J. Leventhal on pp.42-44, 'Art Notes' by Edward Sheehy on pp.45-46 and book reviews on pp.47-64.

The Arrow.

Author: 
W. B. Yeats, editor [The Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland; Irish literature]
Publication details: 
Vol.1, No.2. 24 November 1906. [Hely's, Limited, Printers, Dame St., and Acme Works, Dame Court, Dublin.]
£350.00

4to, 8 unpaginated pages. In original grey printed wraps. Text clear and complete. Neat vertical fold. On worn and foxed paper, with rust to staples and slight wear and chipping to wraps. The second of the five issues to appear in Yeats's lifetime. (In the 'W. B. Yeats Commemoration Number' of Summer 1939, 'The Arrow' was described as 'an occasional, a very occasional, publication by the Abbey Theatre', with only five numbers to have appeared up to that point: 'two in 1906, one in 1907, 1908 and 1909') Contains three articles signed 'W. B.

Offprint titled 'William Butler Yeats. Aetat. 70', containing pieces by Hackett, O Faolain, Higgins, Johnston, de Blacam and Malone, in celebration of the poet's seventieth birthday, also a photograph of Yeats and facsimile of one of his manuscripts.

Author: 
Francis Hackett, Sean O Faolain, F. R. Higgins, Denis Johnston, Aodh de Blacam, Andrew E. Malone, contributors
Publication details: 
Reprinted from the Irish Times of June 13th, 1935.' [Printed and Published by The Irish TImes Limited, 31 Westmoreland street, Dublin.']
£56.00

8vo, 16 pp. In original buff wraps. Text clear and complete. On aged and slightly-creased paper, with rust to the staples resulting in the detaching of the central bifolium. Wraps discoloured. Photograph of Yeats seated in his library on front wrap, and reproduction of Augustus John's portrait of the poet on p.2. On the first page is the facsimile, captioned ' "A Song," from W. B.

Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs Keith Murray, bearing an extraordinarily florid signature.

Author: 
Percy Fitzgerald [Percy Hethrington Fitzgerald] (1834-1925), Anglo-Irish author, critic, sculptor and artist
Publication details: 
Undated. On letterhead of the Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall.
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Good, on aged paper. He has been 'hunting among papers, & found a great quantity of notable letters from notable people but they are mostly confidential - or dealing with some private matters'. He would have liked to gratify her wishes 'in a more liberal fashion, 'but I hope the enclosed may serve'. He wonders whether she is 'packing up for India - - perhaps for Worthing'. The valediction on the final page ('Believe me | sincerely') is followed by a large bold signature which with its underlinings covers an area 11 cm square.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Rose Kingsley') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Rose Kingsley [Rose Georgina Kingsley], author and daughter of Rev. Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) ['Lucas Malet', pen name of her sister the novelist Mary St Leger Kingsley (1852-1931)]
Publication details: 
16 November [no year]; on letterhead of 40 Sloane Street, [London] S.W.
£56.00

16mo, 2 pp. On first leaf of bifolium. Mourning border. She has just received his letter, 'forwarded through Mr Fisher Unwin'. 'I am not "Lucas Malet" - but I am forwarding the letter to her. She is my sister - | Mrs. William Harrison | Clovelly Rectory | Bideford | North Devon'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Helen Mathers. | (Helen Reeves)') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Helen Mathers' [pen name of Ellen Buckingham Mathews (1853-1920); Helen Reeves; Mrs. Reeves], English popular novelist
Publication details: 
1 December 1879; on letterhead of 6 Grosvenor Street, [London] W.
£125.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Spike hole through both leaves, not affecting text. Fair, on aged paper. She states that 'The story would be ready to commence the 2nd. week in March.' She then gives a list of her five 'other works besides Comin' thro the Rye'. The first two in the list are said to have passed through '3 editions', and of the second in the list 'a further is in preparation'.

Autograph Card Signed to unnamed male correspondent [the headmaster of Harrow School?].

Author: 
Anna Swanwick (1813-1899), English author, translator and social reformer [Reginald Bosworth Smith (1839-1908), Housemaster of Harrow School]
Publication details: 
20 March [no year, but after 1892]; on letterhead of 23 Cumberland Terrace, Regents Park, N.W.
£75.00

On both sides of the gilt-edged card, which is roughly 9 x 11.5 cm. Aged, but in fair condition. 'Mr Bosworth Smith' has informed her that her book 'Poets the Interpreters of Their Age' (1892) 'will be acceptable to the pupils of Harrow School', and she has 'great pleasure in presenting a copy to your library, & hoping that a kind welcome will be accorded to my little offering'. A postscript explains that the volume 'will be forwarded by an early post'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Gilbert Parker.') to 'Mr Anderson'.

Author: 
Sir Gilbert Parker [Sir Horatio Gilbert George Parker] (1862-1932), Canadian novelist and British politician [early cinema]
Publication details: 
5 April 1922; on letterhead of 24 Portman Square, [London] W.1.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. On aged, worn paper with small area of loss at head (not affecting text). He will be 'pleased to act on the Committee to judge of the stories for filming', and is glad that 'the work will not be onerous'. In a postscript gives the version of his name he wishes given for announcing ('Right Hon. Sir Gilbert Parker Bt.'). According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, no fewer than sixteen of Parker's novels were filmed. As head of British propaganda in America, 1914-1916, Parker had a direct involvement with the medium.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Henrietta E. V. Stannard') to 'Mrs. Doyle'.

Author: 
John Strange Winter' [pen-name of Mrs. Arthur Stannard (Henrietta Eliza Vaughan Stannard, nee Palmer) (1856-1911)], English novelist
Publication details: 
21 January 1906; on her letterhead ('Mrs. Arthur Stannard'), 14 West Kensington Mansions, West Kensington ('TELEPHONE: 2115, WESTERN ("JOHN STRANGE WINTER.")').
£30.00

12mo, 2 pp. Landscape (roughly 13 x 20.5 cm). Fair, on aged and worn paper. A difficult hand with some doubtful passages. She thanks her for 'those lovely lilies', which are 'still alive'. She apologises for missing an appointment. 'I am better but a poor thing still.' She is glad the recipient has 'come to a little ease'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Messrs Bumpus on the subject of abridged and 'retold' children's books.

Author: 
Norah Purcell, wife of Victor Purcell (1896-1965), University Lecturer in Far Eastern History, Cambridge (author of the T. S. Eliot parody 'The Sweeniad') [John and Edward Bumpus, London booksellers]
Publication details: 
18 September 1931; 6 Ridley Park, Singapore, Straits Settlements.
£56.00

8vo, 2 pp. 40 lines of text. Stamped and docketed by Bumpus. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. A splendid diatribe. She is enclosing a cheque for £5 and asks for 'books to the value of thirty shillings to be placed to her account. 'The books written for by me some time ago have arrived; but I was greatly displeased to receive "abridged" editions of the two childrens' [sic] books ordered - "The Wide Wide Word" and "Queechy".

Invoice, to the Rev. G. R. Boissier, contributor to periodicals etc, for '1 Year's subsn to Library', with receipt of payment signed by W. Dangerfield.

Author: 
Charles Edward Mudie (1818-1890), bookseller and founder of Mudie's Lending Library [William Dangerfield; Rev. G. R. Boissier]
Publication details: 
5 January 1850, on the firm's letterhead of 28 Upper King Street, Bloomsbury Square.
£75.00

On one side of a piece of grey wove paper roughly 13 x 20 cm. Elaborate engraved letterhead in a variety of fonts: 'To Chas. Edwd. Mudie, | BOOKSELLER, STATIONER & NEWS AGENT, | 28, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury Square. | Select Library of Popular Works, | IN HISTORY, RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY & GENERAL LITERATURE. | Single Subscription Seven Shillings a Quarter, One Guinea a Year. | [at left] BOOKBINDING | AND | Engraving' | [at left] PRINTING | AND | Lithography.' Boissier's subscription for '15 Vols. new' is charged at five guineas. In a large hand at foot of page: 'Recd Payt.

Autograph Signature.

Author: 
George Meredith (1828-1909), British novelist and poet
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated.
£28.00

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 5.5 x 10 cm. Aged and lightly spotted. Presumably sent in response to a request for an autograph. Underlined signature. Reads 'Yours | truly | George Meredith'.

Seanfhocla Uladh

Author: 
E´nri´ Ua Muirgheasa [Irish proverbs].
Publication details: 
Baile atha cleath
£350.00

First edition, xvi, 319 p. ; 8vo, soft-covered (green cloth), slightly worn, slight hinge strain, mainly good. Scarce.

Autograph Letter Signed to Wilson.

Author: 
Beatrice Harraden (1864-1936), novelist and suffragette [John Gideon Wilson (1876-1963), bookseller, of J. & E. Bumpus Ltd]
Publication details: 
18 March [no year]; 'c/o The Halcyon Club | 13. Cork St. | W. [London]'
£35.00

12mo: 2 pp. Twenty-eight lines of closely-written text. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She has received his letter and the cheque for £7 10s 'for the Vidal', about the sale of which and the price she is 'very much pleased'. 'You do not mention the commission [...] I hope for good luck with Hall's Stradivari later.' His 'kindness [...] is greatly appreciated'. 'I hope to come in one day when the spring is really here.

Engraved copperplate Certificate, completed in manuscript and signed by E. Gilbert Highton, with a long 'Private note' by him, notifying Williamson of his election to Fellowship in the Royal Society of Literature.

Author: 
Edward Gilbert Highton, Fellow and Secretary, Royal Society of Literature [George Charles Williamson (1858-1942), writer on art and historian of Guildford; George Bell & Sons]
Publication details: 
3 January 1890, on letterhead of the Royal Society of Literature.
£28.00

4to bifolium (leaf dimensions 26 x 20.5 cm). The notification certificate is on the recto of the first leaf, and Highton's letter is on the recto of the second. Versos of both leaves blank. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with 5 cm closed tear to margin of second leaf caused by removal of letter from stub, traces of which still adhere to the verso of the second leaf. The certificate is tastefully printed in black, with the Society's crest in red in the top left-hand corner.

Autograph Note Signed ('S. R') to an unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855), 'the banker poet', best-known for his 'Pleasures of Memory'
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£35.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 18.5 x 11 cm): 1 p. On laid Whatman paper. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight trace of glue from mount on reverse. Reads 'Your remarks are excellent - May I venture to tax your patience once more - but pray don't think of a frank - It was Sir Ronald, the General | Every yours | [signed] S. R'.

Scrapbook containing newspaper cuttings, magazine articles, cartoons, illustrations, advertisements.

Author: 
Charles Dickens
Publication details: 
Mostly 1936.
£100.00

Dimensions approximately 16 inches by 11 inches. In good condition, although both album and cuttings are browning, and with some fraying to extremities. In repaired red and black wraps. Around forty leaves, filled with cuttings on both sides. An attractive, useful and interesting collection of ephemeral material PIckwick, etc.). Includes four pages of phtographs on green paper of 'HOUSES IN WHICH DICKENS LIVED', and 'THE LOVING BALLAD OF LORD BATEMAN' by Dickens and Cruikshank, reproduced from The Graphic Christmas Number, 1902.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W Edmondstoun de Aytoun') to James Simpson.

Author: 
William Edmonstoune Aytoun [William Edmondstoun de Aytoun] (1813-1865), Scottish poet
Publication details: 
26 January 1865; 16 Great Stuart Street, Edinburgh.
£280.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with evidence of previous mount on reverse of second leaf. Certainly genuine, and of interest as bearing a variant spelling of Aytoun's name in a signature written from his home a few months before his death. (The spelling 'Edmondstoun de Aytoun' is not noted in Aytoun's entry in the Oxford DNB.) In the latter part of the letter Aytoun comments on his poetic practice. He is 'much flattered' by Simpson's 'selection of my poem for a public reading', and is 'glad to hear that it was appreciated'.

Les vacances de Lumineux petit cheval de cirque.

Author: 
Cécile Aubry
Publication details: 
Paris: Éditions Émile-Paul Frères, 14 Rue de L'Abbaye, VI. 1955.
£60.00

PRESENTATION COPY: inscribed on half-title 'Pour Louise | avec mon bien amical souvenir - | Cécile Aubry'. 32 pages, quarto. In printed coloured boards, with decorated endpapers. llustrated by Aubry in colour (one double-page and nine full page) and black and white (five vignettes) and red (final page and endpapers). On the poor side of good, with minor staining, spotting and wear; negligible damp damage to boards.

First printing of his essay '[Ur-Gerausch]' ['Primal Noise'].

Author: 
Rainer Maria Rilke
Publication details: 
In 'Das Inselschiff' (Leipzig: Im Insel-Verlag, October 1919).
£35.00

The magazine consists of 48 pages, octavo, in original yellow printed wraps. Dogeared, and on aged paper, and with the grubby wraps quite heavily worn. 12mo publicity handbill loosely inserted. Rilke's contribution, dated 'Soglio, am Tage Mariae Himmelfahrt 1919', is on pp 14-20.

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