LITERATURE

warning: Creating default object from empty value in /home/richardf/public_html/dev/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc on line 33.

[Margaret Oliphant ('Mrs Oliphant'), Scottish author.] Autograph Letter Signed ('M. O. W. Oliphant') to 'Mrs. Laing', gently urging her to visit 'at a time of grief'.

Author: 
Margaret Oliphant [Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant; 'Mrs Oliphant'] (1828-1897), Scottish novelist and biographer
Publication details: 
'7 Ulster Place [London] | Saturday' [no year].
£45.00

2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Written with the essence of Victorian tact. 'We shall be extremely glad if you can give us the evening of the 7th. instead of the 5th. and I trust you will permit us to consider you engaged to us for that night - 8 oClock - | I am grieved to think that my note should have reached you at a time of grief. Thank you for kindly consenting to come.'

[George Gilfillan, Scottish critic and 'spasmodic' poet.] Autograph Note Signed to an unnamed autograph hunter.

Author: 
George Gilfillan (1813-1878), Scottish Presbyterian minister, critic and 'spasmodic' poet
Publication details: 
Dundee; 18 January 1855.
£56.00

1p., 16mo (12.5 x 11.5cm). In good condition, on lightly aged and ruckled paper, with traces of mount on reverse and minor loss to one edge. Reads: 'Dundee | 18th. Jany. | 1855 | My Dear Sir | I have much pleasure in transmitting you my Autograph | I am | Yours very truly | George Gilfillan'.

['Exclusive' interviews on book matters with H. G. Wells and John Galsworthy, in the first two issues of magazine.] The Book Window. A Guide to Book Buying and Book Reading.

Author: 
[W. H. Smith & Son, booksellers and publishers; H. G. Wells; John Galsworthy]
Publication details: 
W. H. Smith & Son, 22 Vicar Street, Kidderminster. The first issue (Vol. 1 No. 1): July 1917. The second issue (Vol. 1 No. 2): October 1917.
£220.00

The first issue 44pp., 12mo, with pink order slip. The second issue 48pp., 12mo (paginated 45-92). Uniform: stapled in brown printed wraps.In fair condition, on aged paper, with rusting from staples. The first issue has articles by Ambrose Heal, Hal Warwick, Henry Arthur Jones, S. P. B. Mais, Eleanor E. Helme, Irene Beeston and Rose Fyleman. The interview with H. G. Wells is on pp.3-5. Wells asks what the 'object' of the new magazine is, and is told, 'to foster and develop the reading and possessing of books'.

[Shirley Brooks, editor of Punch.] Autograph Letter Signed to William Glen, commending his 'friend's verses', which have 'an echo of Keats in them'.

Author: 
Shirley Brooks [Charles William Shirley Brooks] (1816-1874), journalist and novelist, editor of Punch, 1870-1874 [William Glen; the Literary Gazette]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Literary Gazette Office, 4 Bouverie Street, EC [London]. 5 October [circa 1858].
£45.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Brooks (who conducted the Literary Gazette between 1858 and 1859) writes that he has read Glen's 'friend's verses carefully, and with much pleasure. There is an echo of Keats in them, but no mere invitation.

[Joseph Paul Christopher Hatton, novelist and journalist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Joseph Hatton') to the autograph hunter J. T. Baron, discussing two of his works and enclosing a printed publicity flier for Hatton's publications.

Author: 
Joseph Hatton [Joseph Paul Christopher Hatton] (1837-1907), novelist and journalist, editor of the Gentleman's Magazine and Sunday Times [John T. Baron of Blackburn, autograph hunter]
Publication details: 
Letter: on letterhead of the Garrick Club, London. 7 December 1881. Flier: London: Frederick Warne & Co. [1878.]
£80.00

Letter: 1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He begins by suggesting that Baron write to 'Mr Payn' (the novelist and editor James Payn) via the Reform Club, Pall Mall. (Baron's method involved asking one celebrity how to contact another.) He next discusses two of his works: '"The Memorial Windows" appeared in the Gentleman's & was published in Pippins & Cheese (Bradbury & Evans) - "The Valley" you will see in enclosed list'. He concludes by thanking Baron for his 'complimentary note'. With envelope addressed to 'J. T.

[Dinah Maria Craik, Victorian novelist, author of 'John Halifax, Gentleman'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('D M Craik') to 'Mrs Western', regarding the taking-in of 'Isabel' and an outbreak of scarlet fever.

Author: 
Dinah Maria Craik [née Mulock] (1826-1887), novelist, best-known for 'John Halifax, Gentleman' (1856)
Publication details: 
On letterhead of The Corner House, Shortlands, Kent. 12 September 1882.
£90.00

4pp., 16mo. Bifolium. 57 lines of closely-written text. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. She begins by exclaiming 'I have been so very sorry for you!', before urging her correspondent to 'keep quarantine'. 'But about Isabel? [...] I would gladly take her to stay here as I have done beforetime - but there are some impediments - we must have complete separation between our house & yours - Mr Harris's dread is indescribable - he lost his wife & (I think) two sisters with scarlet fever. I think they wd.

[Jessica Brett Young, widow of novelist Francis Brett Young.] Four Autograph Letters Signed to 'Mr Jackson', 'Manager, Heinemann & Cassell', discussing her husband's copyrights in an energetic style, with notes on the writing of 'My Brother Jonathan'

Author: 
Jessica Brett Young [née Hankinson], (1883-1970), wife of the English novelist Francis Brett Young (1884-1954)
Publication details: 
All four on letterheads of the Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town. Written in October and November 1967.
£200.00

The first three letters each 1p., 4to; and the fourth 2pp., 4to. In good condition, on aged and creased paper, with three of the four letters stapled together. Letter One: 13 October 1967. She writes 'for information about my position concerning my late husband's books, and my Biography of him which Heinemann's published in London in 1962'. The closing of the firm's Cape Town office has been a shock to her. Letter Two: 4 November 1967.

[John Russell Lowell, American poet.] Autograph Letter Signed ('J. R. Lowell'), while American ambassador in London, to Lady Elphinstone, declining an invitation and attempting to arrange a meeting to renew their acquaintance.

Author: 
J. R. Lowell [John Russell Lowell] (1819-1891), American poet, author and diplomat [Lady Elphinstone]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 40 Clarges Street, Piccadilly, W. [London] 2 July 1886.
£60.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, and with the margins cut down. The letter reads: 'Dear Lady Elphinstone, | I am very sorry that an engagement here will prevent my having the pleasure of coming to you this afternoon. But I hope to be able to go out to Richmond next Friday & if so shall do myself the honour of renewing so agreeable an acquaintance.'

[Annotated typescript; play] "Charlotte Corday" A Tragedy in One Act ("C'est le crime qui fait la honte, et non pas l'echafaud", titlepage motto)

Author: 
Harry Graham [Jocelyn Henry Clive 'Harry' Graham (1874–1936)], writer, poet, humourist, journalist, soldier, traveller, " inventor of ruthless rhymes".
Publication details: 
Unpublished and Unrecorded, [c.1908?]
£950.00

[50] leaves (rectos numbered only), 4to, stiff boards, good condition, typescript, annotated by the author, additions, corrections, excisions, who has inscribed the recto of the free endpaper "Harry Graham. || Royal Court. | Palace of Westminster. | London, S.W. | England". The scene is set in Charlotte Corday's prison cell, and the dramatis personae listed are Charlotte herself; Francois Chabot (Deputy for the Departement of Loir-et-Cher; Jean-Jacques Hauer, A Young Artist; Richard, Warder at the Conciergerie Prison; Charles-Henry Sanson, Public Executioner.

[Handbill] The Cowper & Newton Museum Series. No. 4. The Kissing Candidate Letter from William Cowper to the Rev. John Newton March 29th, 1784

Author: 
[William Cowper, poet]
Publication details: 
A.H. Stanley, printer, Olney, [no year].
£56.00

Four pages, 16mo, grubby, small chip from first page, text clear and complete. Scarce. One copy only found on COPAC/WorldCat at Pittsburgh.

[Pamphlet, lacking covers] Darton's Instructive Stories. Old Times

Author: 
[Darton and Co., London]
Publication details: 
[18402. 1850s?]
£120.00

16pp., 8vo (publisher says "foolscap Quarto"), coloured illustrations, missing paper wraps (scans of Oxford copy covers enclosed). Listed on the wraps, back a list of sister works, front full title "Darton's Instructive Stories. Old Times" (titlepage just has "Old Times". Titlepage grubby, marked, wear and tear at edges, contents complete and attractive. Only one copy recorded on COPAC/WorldCat, at Oxford.

[Inscribed copy.] Trial of a Judge. A tragedy in five acts.

Author: 
Stephen Spender
Publication details: 
London: Faber and Faber Limited. 1938.
£80.00

115pp., 8vo. In red cloth binding. No dustwrapper. Aged, with back hinge sprung and one bumped corner at the back. Excellent inscription by Spender on the front free endpaper, in which he describes the history of the composition of the play: 'To And | with love from | Stephen. | March 16 1938. | This play begun January 1933, at Barcelona, partly written in January 1937 in Madrid & Albacete, and finished January 1938 in London, is almost a record of our friendships through five years.'

[Sir Claude Aurelius Elliott, headmaster of Eton.] Autograph Letter Signed ('C A Elliott') to J. J. S. Driberg, discussing his son J. H. Driberg's 'Poems', inserted in a copy of the book, inscribed by the author to his mother.

Author: 
Sir Claude Aurelius Elliott (1888-1973), headmaster of Eton; Jack Herbert Driberg (1888-1946), Lecturer in Anthropology, Cambridge University, 1934-42 and brother of Labour MP Tom Driberg (1905-1976)
Publication details: 
Elliott's letter on letterhead of Fernwood, Wimbledon Park, London SW; 17 September [no year]. Driberg's book: London: Frank H. Morland, 16 Park Mansions, Fulham, S.W. 1908.
£220.00

ONE (Elliott's letter): 3pp., 12mo. 34 lines. Bifolium. In good condition, on aged paper, loosely attached to the title-leaf of the book by a small piece of gummed paper. The letter begins: 'My dear Driberg | I ought to have acknowledged your letter sooner, but I only received it on my return from abroad, and since then I have been busy struggling with the arears which always accrue during absence.' He thanks him for sending his 'son's little volume', which he has read 'with much interest & congratulate him on the neat & modest appearance he has made in print'.

[First edition.] A Room of One's Own.

Author: 
Virginia Woolf
Publication details: 
Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 52 Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1929.
£120.00

172pp., 12mo. In pink cloth, gilt. No dustwrapper. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in binding with slight spotting and slight wear at tail of spine. Neat small ownership signature in pencil on front free endpaper.

[First edition.] Poems by Wilfred Owen. With an introduction by Siegfried Sassoon.

Author: 
Wilfred Owen [Siegfried Sassoon]
Publication details: 
London: Chatto & Windus, 1920.
£1,500.00

xi + [1] + 33 + [1]pp., 4to. Frontispiece engraving of photograph of Owen, with creased tissue guard. In red buckram, with white printed label on spine. Internally good, on lightly-aged paper, in worn and sunned binding. Ownership stamp and ownership signature on front free endpaper, and a third ownership signature, with address, on rear free endpaper.

Autograph Letter Signed, to unnamed male correspondent, laid down in copy of the revised edition of Nicoll's 'Thomas Carlyle'.

Author: 
Henry James Nicoll, Scottish man of letters [Thomas Carlyle]
Publication details: 
Letter, 7 April 1881, 'Lumsden, by Aberdeen'; book, Edinburgh: Macniven & Wallace, Princes Street, 1881.
£56.00

The letter is 12mo, 2 pp, 30 lines. In good condition, with the text clear and entire, and with wear to 0.5 cm strips at head and tail (not affecting the text) where the letter overlaps the top and bottom of the book. The blank second leaf of the bifolium is laid down on the verso of the book's half-title. Nicoll begins by apologising for sending 'a copy of the cheap edition' ('the cloth copies of the second edition are not yet ready, and I do not know when they will be out').

[In illustrated wraps.] Medley! By Cuthbert Bede, B.A. Author of "Motley;" "Verdant Green;" &c &c.

Author: 
Edward Bradley (1827-1889), humorist under the pseudonym 'Cuthbert Bede'
Publication details: 
London: James Blackwood, Paternoster Row. 1856.
£280.00

114pp., 12mo. In wraps printed in green and red, with striking illustration of jester bursting through the front cover, and advertisements on the rear. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn wraps. Frontispiece, engraved title, and numerous illustrations in text. A collection of nineteen pieces in prose and verse, with such titles as 'A Chat concerning a Couple of Chairs' and 'Mephistophiles at Malvern'. Scarce: the only copies on COPAC at the British Library and Durham.

[Printed nineteenth-century handbill.] Copy of a curious Love Letter | From a young Gentleman in this Neighbourhood, to his Sweetheart, Miss W - , of this Town, which was found near this place yesterday morning.

Author: 
'T. B - l.' [nineteenth century handbill]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [1830s?]
£56.00

1p., 12mo. Text enclosed within a decorative border. In fair condition, on heavily aged and worn wove paper, with a couple of small holes. Printed on cheap paper, with rough untrimmed edges. Beneath the title is a poem in two columns, itself titled 'Directions for Reading it.': 'Hast thou no pity on my woes? | Dost thou at me turn up thy nose? | I'll make my declaration first, | So read straight forward and be curst. | But if thy heart to me incline, | O!

[Periodical, abortive; John Clare] The English Journal: A Miscellany of Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts

Author: 
Cyrus Redding, Editor and Contributor
Publication details: 
Vol.I (all published), nos. 1-26, January to June 1841: London: How and Parsons, 132, Fleet Street, 1841.
£1,500.00

Title, ii [Index], 412pp., cr. 8vo, hf-cf, sp. gt, marbled boads, raised bands, leather scuffed, top of spine damaged, hinge strain inside front cover, contents good. Bookplate of John Ribton Garstin (see note below). This short-lived periodical is notable for its distinguished contributors (Miss Mitford, Horace Smith, Douglas Jerrold, George Hogarth, Mrs S.C. Hall Redding himself "Etc. Etc".

[Dickens first edition, in original binding.] Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi. Edited by "Boz." With illustrations by George Cruikshank. In two volumes.

Author: 
"Boz" [Charles Dickens], ed.; Joseph Grimaldi; Richard Bentley
Publication details: 
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. 1838. [London: Printed by Samuel Bentley, Dorset Street, Fleet Street.]
£500.00

2 vols: xix + [1] + 288; ix + 263. With frontispieces to both volumes (both with tissue guards) and the eleven other plates called for. First edition, first issue, with the plate facing p.238 of vol.2 in its first state (without the 'grotesque' border), and the 36-page undated publisher's catalogue bound-in at the end of vol.2. In primary binding of pink cloth with floral pattern, and the gilt titles on the spine held up by an image of a clown.

[Rev. Richard Blake Brown.] Typescript of the novel 'My Aunt in Pink', with four sections of the autograph manuscript, and the autographs of 'The Land of Lost Spirrits. [sic] An Epic Poem', written when he was sixteen, and of another youthful story.

Author: 
Rev. Richard Blake Brown (1902-1968), American-born English poet and Firbankian novelist, educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge
Publication details: 
The four autograph sections (1935-1936) and typescript (1936) of 'My Aunt in Pink' all from Fonthill, Salperton, Gloucestershire.' 'The Land of Lost Spirrits' dated 1918.
£2,000.00

ONE: Typescript of 'My Aunt in Pink. A novel by Richard Blake Brown.' Fonthill, Salperton, New Cheltenham, Gloucestershire; 1936. 261pp., 4to. Black cloth binding, gilt. Cutting of review of RBB's 'Joy in Jeopardy' from John O'London's Weekly, 24 August 1935, laid down at front of volume. TWO: Autograph of 'The Land of Lost Spirrits. [sic] An Epic Poem, written by Richard Blake Brown. Author of "Caesar's Hamlet;" etc. With Frontispeice, [sic] And Various Other Illustrations.' 1918. 44pp., 4to. In notebook with red cloth spine and marbled boards.

[Rev. Richard Blake Brown of Magdalene College, Cambridge.] Extraordinary spoof 'printed' poetry volume, purporting to be 'The Works of Count Ivor Telmarckle. With an appreciation by Denis Basil Gray.' With photographs of Blake Brown in character.

Author: 
Rev. Richard Blake Brown (1902-1968), American-born English poet and Firbankian novelist, educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge
Publication details: 
Sine loco: Printed at the Bleak House Press, 1923. ['Richard Blake Brown | Magdalene College | Cambridge | April: 1923.']
£1,200.00

30 + [1]pp., 12mo. On good thick laid paper, and in an attractive but worn Bumpus half-binding, with green leather spine, gilt, and corners, and cream linen boards. The title is typewritten, as are the prelims, pagination and fake colophon: 'Of this edition one hundred copies have been printed on antique laid paper, and twenty upon handmade paper. Of the de luxe issue this copy is number - : | 28'. ['Colophon'.] 'PRINTED AT THE BLEAK HOUSE PRESS. | Nineteen hundred and twenty-three. The works of Count Ivor Telmarckle of Sweden.

[Printed poetic drama by E. H. W. Meyerstein.] Goemagog and Corineus.

Author: 
E. H. W. Meyerstein [Edward Harry William Meyerstein] (1889-1952), scholar and poet
Publication details: 
London: Ingpen & Grant Ltd. [1934.]
£20.00

91 + [1] pp., 8vo. Good, tight copy, on lightly-aged paper, in lightly worn and dulled original black cloth binding and printed label, with spare label tipped in at back.

[Printed book.] Seraphine. By E. H. W. Meyerstein | Author of "Terence Duke".

Author: 
E. H. W. Meyerstein [Edward Harry William Meyerstein] (1889-1952), scholar and poet
Publication details: 
London: Richards [The Richards Press Limited], 10 Paternoster Square, EC4. 1936.
£20.00

362 + [1]pp., 8vo. Advertisement on final page for Meyerstein's 'Terence Duke'. A fair copy, on lightly-aged paper, in worn original orange cloth binding, and lacking the dustwrapper.

[Presentation copy by E. H. W. Meyerstein.] The Boy. A Modern Poem. [With pencil note by Meyerstein: 'One of thirteen copies printed by mistake on large paper, and uncut.']

Author: 
E. H. W. Meyerstein [Edward Harry William Meyerstein] (1889-1952), scholar and poet
Publication details: 
London: Ingpen & Grant, 12 Bury Street, London WC1. 1928.
£120.00

62pp., 8vo. In good condition, on aged paper, in dulled black cloth binding with chipped printed label. Presentation inscription by Meyerstein on front free endpaper: 'J. A Petheridge | with the writer's kind regards. | Aug. 13. 1928'. Pencil note (probably also by Meyerstein) on front pastedown: 'One of thirteen copies printed by mistake on large paper, and uncut.'

[British Colonies etc; booklet] The Royal School Series. Geography of the British Colonies, India, &c. With Maps.

Author: 
[Schoolbook]
Publication details: 
New Edition, London, Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1895
£120.00

Booklet, 42pp. (with 4pp. catalogue), 12mo, dec. papers wraps, sl. grubby and stained, contents good. COPAC and WorldCat appear only to list a microform of the First Ediiton (dated after 1881 by internal evidence).

[Horatio/Horace Smith] Autograph Note Signed to Lady Stepney accepting an invitation to dinner.

Author: 
Horace Smith] Horatio Smith, poet.
Publication details: 
12 Cavendish Place [London], Monday [no date].
£45.00

One page, 12mo, crupled but text clear and complete: "I shall have very great pleasure in diding with your Ladyship on Monday next - & some of the Ladies will be most happy to follow me in the evening. [...]" Note: joint author of 'Rejected Addresses'.

[Eden Philpotts] Two Autograph Postcards signed "E.P." to Lewis Wynne, Welsh poet.

Author: 
Eden Philpotts (1862-1960), English novelist, author of many works about Dartmoor and his native Devon [Helen Allingham]
Publication details: 
Torquay, 9 and 19 Feb. 1929.
£60.00

Postcards, c.11 x 9cm, some smudging but mainly good condition, text clear and complete. Postcard One: "Dear Mr Wynne, | Very best thanks for your valued gift: a fine & distinguished poem."; Postcard 2: "[...] | The books can be got separately & there are cheap editions of those two books any bookseller can secure for you for 2/- & 2/6 each. | I'm afraid London has had enough of my plays. My daughter's paly is not about [?] folk." Two items,

[Eden Philpotts] Autograph Letter Signed to 'Wilfrid C. Mosley', regarding Mosley's poor choice of a piece of his prose for an anthology. [not traced]

Author: 
Eden Philpotts (1862-1960), English novelist, author of many works about Dartmoor and his native Devon [Helen Allingham]
Publication details: 
Torquay | 14 March 1913.
£45.00

4to, 1 p. Ten lines, edges a little damaged but text clear and complete, on flimsy paper. "You are welcome to the quotation from my school-boy story - if it is worth while. I could have wished, however, that in an anthology of serious prose you had given me credit as a serious writer & chosen something more interesting. With compliments [...]"

[William Hazlitt] Autograph Letter Signed "Gladys Hazlitt" to an unknown correspondent of William Carew Hazlitt, partly about the 'lost' diary of Margaret Hazlitt.

Author: 
[William Hazlitt] Gladys Hazlitt, daughter of William Carew Hazlitt, great grand-daughter of William Hazlitt, esayist
Publication details: 
[Headed] 18 The Avenue, Southampton, 7 May 1929.
£45.00

Three pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition. She has found a letter to W.C. Hazlitt from her correspondent about Margaret Hazlitt's diary and asks its whereabouts. Her letter about it in "The Times" had produced no results, and P.P. Howe (extensive writer on her "great grandfather William Hazlitt") would like very much to find it still existed. SAhe concludes, "It is now my care to keep the Grave of William Hazlitt in good order at St Anne's Soho".

Syndicate content