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[ Geoffrey Household, thriller writer. ] Three Autograph Letters Signed and one Autograph Letter Signed to military historian Barrie Pitt

Author: 
Geoffrey Household [ Geoffrey Edward West Household ] (1900-1988), English thriller writer [ Barrie Pitt (1918-2006), military historian ]
Publication details: 
All four letters on letterheads of Church Headland, Whitchurch, Aylesbury. Three dating from 1974 and one from 1980.
£450.00

The four letters in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Also present are carbons of four letters from Pitt to Household (three from 1974 and one from 1981). ONE: ALS. 11 April 1974. 2pp., 4to. He is delighted 'to be appreciated by a fellow craftsman' and is sending a copy of his 'Time to Kill', which he asks him to accept, as he has 'a number of them taking up useful shelf room'. TWO: TLS. 24 April 1974. 2pp., 4to.

[ Victorian valentine Card. ] Hand-coloured engraved Victorian valentine card, depicting a young lady in shorts posting a letter, with the caption 'A valentine for my little friend'.

Author: 
[ Victorian valentine card, engraved and hand-coloured ] [ Royal Mail; Post Office; women's fashion ]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [ London, 1880s? ]
£65.00

On one side of a piece of 14 x 9 cm paper, with embossed design to the scalloped edges. Hand-coloured in yellow, pink, red, purple, grey and plum. A smiling young girl, blonde-haird and rosy cheeks, in gentleman's hat, muffler, plum velvet jacket, purple shorts and red tights, stands on the pavement, looking smiling at the viewer as she posts a letter with a red wax seal into a box marked 'Post Office' and 'London 12'. The caption at the foot reads: 'A VALENTINE | FOR MY LITTLE FRIEND'.

[ John Rutherford Gordon, editor of the 'Sunday Express'. ] 'Rough draft' of typed article, with autograph emendations, on Lord Northcliffe, 'the incomparable journalist of the age', written from personal knowledge.

Author: 
John Rutherford Gordon (1890-1974), editor of London 'Sunday Express' [ Lord Northcliffe [ Alfred Charles William Harmsworth (1865-1922), 1st Viscount Northcliffe ], press baron, owner of Daily Mail ]
Publication details: 
Dated 25 April 1952, and with autograph note stating that it was 'Partly used in Sunday Express [ London ] 27/4/52'.
£350.00

21pp., fourteen of them in 4to, and the other seven pages cut down. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. Stapled together, with the first leaf detached. The article is complete but untitled. It is unattributed, but comes from the J. R. Gordon papers. A well-written and incisive piece, written from an insider's point of view. Gordon lays out his stall at the very start: 'Few people of our generation have influenced the life of it so profoundly as Lord Northcliffe. He was the incomparable journalist of our age.

[ Sir Robert Baden-Powell. ] Copy of 'The Mafeking Mail | Special Siege Slip.' ('Issued Daily, Shells Permitting.') including 'Mafeking Garrison. General Orders' by Major F. W. Panzera, and letter from Baden-Powell and report by C. B. Vyvyan.

Author: 
'R. S. S. Baden-Powell, Col., Commanding Frontier Force' [Sir Robert Baden-Powell (1857-1941), founder of Boy Scouts] [The Mafeking Mail, Special Siege Slip, 1899; Second Boer War; F. W. Panzera ]
Publication details: 
No. 34. 18 December 1899. 'Printed and published by Townshend & Son, Market Square, Mafeking. Editor and Manager: G. N. H. Whales.'
£65.00

Printed on one side of a 37.5 x 28 cm piece of aged newsprint. A frail historical survival, archivally preserved, but with slight later loss leaving some holes in the leaf, affecting some of the text. Small oval stamp with unreadable text in purple ink on reverse. In four columns, with first item Panzera's 'General Orders', dated 16 December 1899, with sections headed 'Good Service by Snipers', 'Visiting Justice', 'Board of Officers', 'Settlement of Forage Accounts' and 'Packing Cases for Local Defence'.

Printed handbill timetable headed on one side '1837. Irish Mails. DOWN' and on the other side 'Western and Foreign Mails. - 1837. - Up and Down.' With contemporary manuscript note.

Author: 
[British West Country locomotives; early nineteenth-century Irish railways; 1837.]
Publication details: 
[London or Dublin? 1837.]
£45.00

2pp., 8vo. On aged and worn paper. The side headed '1837. Irish Mails. DOWN' with timetable arranged in two columns, under headings: 'To Kingston via Holyhead', 'To Waterford (P) via Gloucester and Milford', and 'To Waterford (P) via Bristol and Pembroke'. Footnote reads: 'It may be curious to note that the present train mail service is under the liability of a penalty of £1 14s. for each minute it is after time through any avoidable cause.' The table on the other side arranged lengthwise on the page, with one section relating to the service from St.

[Richard Wharton, Secretary to the Treasury.] Autograph Letter Signed ('R Wharton') to Sir Francis Freeling, Secretary of the General Post Office, regarding 'Dodds', who is applying to be made a guard. With Autograph Note Signed by Freeling.

Author: 
Richard Wharton (c.1765-1828), Tory Member of Parliament for Durham, and Secretary to the Treasury [Sir Francis Freeling (1764-1836), Secretary of the General Post Office]
Publication details: 
Treasury Chambers [Whitehall, London]. 14 March 1811.
£56.00

1p., 4to. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight damage to one corner. Wharton writes that 'Dodds, whom on my request you some time ago put on your list to be made a Gaurd [sic]', writes me word that he will be 30 years old on the 23d inst. and is told that he cannot be made a Gaurd after he has attained that age.' He asks to be informed 'how that stands, as I shrink at the idea of having him again on my hands'.

[Edward Capern, 'the Postman Poet' and 'Devonshire Burns'.] Autograph Letter Signed to the poet William Kingston Sawyer, thanking him for a photograph and book of his verses ('Ten Miles from Town').

Author: 
Edward Capern (1819-1894), 'the Postman Poet' and 'Devonshire Burns' [William Kingston Sawyer (1828-1882); Edward Litt Leman Blanchard (1820-1889); Bryan Waller Procter (1787-1874)]
Publication details: 
Rock Villa Harborne, Birmingham. 27 August 1869.
£220.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, on aged paper. Addressed to 'My Dr Sawyer'. He begins by thanking him for the photograph: 'Whenever I look on it - and I shall do so often - I shall be reminded of the fourth gentle poet who did all he could to make a few pleasant hours for a humble brother <?> during his short sojourn in the great metropolitan maze of this England of ours'.

[Colonel Edward Corbett, Conservative Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Edwd Corbett') [to his publisher Richard Bentley?], discussing tables on mail coaches in his book 'An Old Coachman's Chatter'. With proofs of the tables.

Author: 
Colonel Edward Corbett (1817-1895) of Longnor Hall, Shropshire, Conservative Member of Parliament [Richard Bentley]
Publication details: 
'Longnor' [Longnor Hall, Shropshire]. 4 June 1890.
£220.00

The two items relate to the book 'An Old Coachman's Chatter with Some Practical Remarks on Driving. By a Semi-Professional. Edward Corbett, Colonel late Shropshire Militia.'(London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1890). Both the letter and the proofs are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. LETTER: 3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. 34 lines of text in a particularly difficult hand. He will endeavour to 'throw all the light' he can on the subjects mentioned in his correspondent's letter, beginning:: 'I think the time between Cape Curig & Holyhead must be correct.

[Post Office Jubilee of Uniform Penny Postage at South Kensington Museum, 2nd July, 1890.] First day cover, with envelope with printed designs containing printed card. [Addressed to himself by Andrew W. Tuer of the Leadenhall Press.]

Author: 
Post Office Jubilee of Uniform Penny Postage [Andrew White Tuer (1838-1900), Scottish publisher in London, proprietor of the Leadenhall Press]
Publication details: 
Postmarked from South Kensington [London]. 2 July 1890.
£150.00

In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with the envelope with one small tear in the flap. The cover of the envelope carries designs in light blue printed by Thomas De La Rue & Co, including 'The North Mail making for Highgate, 1790, at 8 miles an hour' and 'The North Mail, 1890, approaching Carlisle at 48 miles an hour'. It is addressed by Tuer himself to 'And: W.

[John Henry Batchelor, illustrator.] Autograph Letter Signed ('John H. Batchelor') to an unnamed recipient, discussing his work and terms.

Author: 
John Henry Batchelor (born 1936), MBE, English artist and 'arguably the world's foremost technical illustrator' and 'the world's premier stamp illustrator'
Publication details: 
15 St Johns Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth.
£56.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with water staining to a couple of words. Written in a stylish, calligraphic hand. He begins by thanking the recipient for a letter and postal order, before continuing: 'In case you are interested, I also do paintings of antique weapons. An example of my work can be seen in the August 1962 issue of "Guns Review".' He explains that such illustrations can be in either black and white or full colour, and concludes: 'If you have a particular favourite I shall be pleased to quote.'

[Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington, as Lord Binning.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Binning'), docketted 'Mail coaches', and discussing the 'measure of applying to the English counties', ' Mr Mundell' and the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.

Author: 
Thomas Hamilton, 9th Earl of Haddington [known as Lord Binning between 1794 and 1828] (1780-1858) of Tyninghame House, Tory politician
Publication details: 
'Tynninghame [Tyninghame House, East Lothian, Scotland] | Sunday night' [docketted with date '16/18 Sepr 1810'].
£40.00

3pp., 4to. On bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with slight damp-staining to one corner. '[...] The measure of applying to the English counties was proper & indeed necessary - and I doubt not that, as the evil complain'd of is very general, we shall find a very general & ready cooperation on their part in our endeavours to procure redress.

[Sir John Henniker Heaton, Member of Parliament for Canterbury.] Autograph Note Signed ('J Henniker Heaton') to Stephen H. Gatty regarding a letter of recommendation to the Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Knutsford.

Author: 
Sir John Henniker Heaton (1848-1914), Member of Parliament for Canterbury, 1885-1910, and postal reformer [Henry Thurstan Holland, 1st Viscount Knutsford (1825-1914); Sir Stephen Herbert Gatty]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 36 Eaton Square, London. 24 November 1888.
£35.00

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He informs him that he has written 'a strong letter of recommendation to Lord Knutsford' (Secretary of State for the Colonies). He is enclosing the reply (not present) and 'will not fail to bring the matter before him again'. Sir Stephen Herbert Gatty (1849-1922) was later Chief Justice of Gibraltar.

Autograph Letter Signed ('R. H. Sherlock') from Randall Hopley Sherlock, editor of the Liverpool Mail, describing for his friend Mrs Roper the London International Exhibition of Industry and Art of 1862 at South Kensington.

Author: 
Randall Hopley Sherlock (d.1875), editor of the Liverpool Mail [The London International Exhibition of Industry and Art of 1862 (Great London Exposition) at South Kensington]
Publication details: 
15 Holland Street, Kensington, W [London]. 1 August [1862.]
£90.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. He begins: 'My dear Mrs. Roper - | I have been rather long in fulfilling my promise to write - but I must lay all the blame on this most attractive International from which I can hardly tear myself away! My journey was a very pleasant one on Tuesday with agreeable fellow-passengers, there was another Bouquet besides mine in the carriage - but tell dear Annie it would bear no comparison with mine!

Interleaved 'P.P.L.' copy, annotated for official use by 'T.K.S.', of the Royal Mail 'Post Office Guide', with two years' corrections (1900-1902), abbreviations for various Post Offices, table of 'Post Towns' between 1900 and 1902, and other matter.

Author: 
[Royal Mail Post Office Guide, 1899, with official annotations by 'T.K.S.'; philately; post marks; wireless telegraphy]
Publication details: 
'To be obtained at all Post Offices in the United Kingdom. Price Sixpence.' No. 174. 1 October 1899. [Annotations dating from between 1900 and 1902.]
£280.00

8vo volume, bound up and interleaved for official use. Internally sound and tight, on aged paper; in worn black leather quarter-binding with repair to loose boards. In gilt on spine is the title 'P. P. L.', with 'T. K. S.' at the foot, and these abbreviations are also present in pencil on the title page. The printed guide has a total of 282pp: title leaf + pp.7-24, 43-44, 47-258, 261-280, 357-374. It is interleaved from p.48 to the end with 128 leaves (256pp).

Autograph Letter Signed ['G Shaw Lefevre'] from George John Shaw-Lefevre, later 1st Baron Eversley, to 'Mr Ellerby', regarding 'improvements in the service' of the Post Office.

Author: 
['G Shaw Lefevre'] from George John Shaw-Lefevre
Publication details: 
7 June 1890; on letterhead of 18 Bryanston Square, London.
£56.00
Autograph Letter Signed ['G Shaw Lefevre'] from George John Shaw-Lefevre

12mo, 3 pp. 30 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. His 'answer to Mr. King' is that 'under the present system the Post Office is completely under the control of the Treasury, and the Post Master General is little more than a clerk of the Treasury. The Treasury looks at the questions submitted to them from the point of view of the Exchequer and with a view to obtaining a continually growing revenue from the Post Office'. Suggestions for improvement of the service are 'continually & systematically refused'.

[Miniature book, printed 'with the Smallest Type Ever Manufactured'.] A Sketch Of the Origin and Progress Of the Liverpool Collegiate Institution.

Author: 
[The Liverpool Collegiate Institution; the Liverpool Mail; Messrs Miller and Richard, Typefounders, Edinburgh; typography; printing]
Publication details: 
Printed for the Institution during the Polytechnic Exhibition, By the Proprietors of the Liverpool Mail, with the Smallest Type Ever Manufactured, from the Foundry of Messrs. Miller and Richard of Edinburgh. 1843.
£650.00

The dimensions of the book are 4 x 5 cm. 48 pp. In brown card binding, yellow endpapers. Tight copy, in good condition on aged paper, in good binding with slight discoloration to endpapers. 'This Little Book, one of the least ever published, and certainly printed with the Smallest Type, is intended as a curious illustration of the extraordinary perfection to which the elegant art of Type Founding has been carried in modern days.' Filled with details concerning the Institution, including nine pages listing its officers and members.

Printed pamphlet issued by the General Post Office, London, titled 'AIR MAIL', with table giving details of postal rates and services to various countries.

Author: 
General Post Office, London; Air Mail ,1927 [airmail; British postal history]
Publication details: 
P.635. Issued, June, 1927.' ['B. & F., Ltd.']
£125.00

Large 8vo (33 x 21 cm), 6 pp. Four-leaf pamphlet, with the final leaf blank. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper, with minor rust marks from removed staples. On the first page are twelve sections under the headings 'Letter Air Mails' and 'Parcel Air Mails'. The following four pages carry the table of 'Letter Air Mails', in columns with headings including Route, Air Fee, and Observations. The final page contains a table of 'Parcel Air Mails' and further observations.

Darkest Africa And An Easy Way Out.

Author: 
W. L. Warden [Harold Sidney Harmsworth (1868-1940, 1st Viscount Rothermere]
Publication details: 
[1940.] 'For Private Circulation Only.' ['Printed by Warden & Co. Ltd., 71, Church Road, Hendon, N.W.4.'] [Introductory note by Warden dated '38, Portland Place, London, W.1. March, 1940.']
£85.00

8vo: 12 pp (unpaginated). Wraps and stapled. Fair: on aged and lightly-creased paper. A few marks in pencil and red pencil (on two occasions 'my "Owner" ' in the text noted as 'Lord R.'). Stamped with limitation number 57. Printed in small type in double column. In his introductory note Warden explains that the text is 'made up of extracts from a diary, which I more or less kept, and letters sent home during a recent voyage of 20,000 miles.

Northcliffe: The Facts.

Author: 
Louise Owen [Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe; Harold Sidney Harmsworth, Viscount Rothermere]
Publication details: 
London: 22 Buckingham Gate, S.W.1. [Preface dated 'September, 1931.'] ['Printed in Great Britain by Louise Owen, 2, Johnson's Court, London, E.C.4.'
£45.00

8vo: 334 pp. Portrait of Northcliffe as frontispiece. Three facsimiles of letters in text and fold-out with facsimiles of three of Northcliffe's letters. Inscribed by Owen on front pastedown 'To Elaine from Louise and Northcliffe. | Nov. 1938'. (The reference to 'Northcliffe' is explained by the fact that Owen considered herself a spirit medium, in contact with the deceased Viscount.) Internally good: sound and tight, on lightly aged paper. In original worn red cloth, with slight bloom on front.

Autograph (Facsimile?) Letter Signed ('Jas. R. Fairfax') to male correspondent.

Author: 
Sir James Reading Fairfax (1834-1919), Australian newspaper proprietor [The Sydney Morning Herald; The Sydney Mail]
Publication details: 
11 May 1884; on letterhead of the Sydney Morning Herald and Sydney Mail.
£56.00

12mo: 1 p. Ten lines of text. Bifolium. Grubby, and with the text of the letter faint. Letterhead printed in red with illustration of the firm's headquarters. Written in, or faded to, lilac, and could well be a carbon. Sending copies of the two newspapers as 'we think it probable you would like your newly published works noticed or reviewed' in them.

Signed ('J. Henniker Heaton') Letter, in a secretarial hand, to A. M. Tapp.

Author: 
Sir John Henniker Heaton (1848-1914), English Member of Parliament and postal reformer [Post Office]
Publication details: 
9 July 1891; on embossed House of Commons letterhead.
£100.00

12mo: 3 pp. Good, but with the leaves of the bifolium separated, and reattached with three tissue mounts. 'It is impossible to trace the obstructiveness of the Postal department to any particular officials; they stand shoulder to shoulder, defiant and impenetrable, like a square of infantry'. Nevertheless Heaton has 'succeeded in getting some reforms of importance inserted in the Post Office Acts Amendment Bill'. Mentions 'permission to send circulars in unclosed envelopes' and briefly discusses the postage of newspapers to the Colonies.

Handbill headed 'STOLEN POSTAL ORDER FORMS | STOLEN POSTAGE STAMPS NEGOTIATED BY MEANS OF STAMP SAVINGS SLIPS'.

Author: 
E. H. Bourne, Director, Investigation Branch, Personnel Department [THE POST OFFICE; ROYAL MAIL; POSTAL HISTORY]
Publication details: 
[London,] 20 January 1939.
£56.00

Two pages. On both sides of a piece of paper roughly twelve and a quarter inches by eight inches wide. Illustrated on both sides. An unusual piece of Post Office ephemera, and something of a period piece, on aged paper, with fraying to extremities. Begins 'The object of these instructions is to secure the apprehension of men and women who are negotiating stolen postal order forms and stolen penny stamps, the proceeds of thefts from Post Office. [...]'.

Autograph Letter Signed to the Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Richard Edward Dennett [CONGO FREE STATE]
Publication details: 
20 May 1916; on letterhead '3 PARLIAMENT HILL MANSIONS, | HIGHGATE ROAD, N.W.'
£56.00

Editor (1857-1921) of the manuscript newspaper 'Congo Mirror', who 'drew attention to irregularities in Congo Free State, 1886; [...] and accused Congo officials of murders and atrocities; with help he carried on the agitation until the Congo Reform Association was formed; in a series of letters to the African Mail entitled the Lower Congo he pointed out the injustice of the French rule and the concessionnaire system in Congo Francais' (Who's Who). Three pages, 12mo. On grey paper. Very good. Docketed in pen and green pencil.

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