MANUSCRIPT

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Anonymous abolitionist poem, in a mid-nineteenth-century hand, entitled 'The Fugitive Slave', with the first line: 'I'm weary yet I cannot sleep'. Apparently unpublished.

Author: 
[Anonymous mid-nineteenth-century abolitionist poem] [slavery; the American Civil War]
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£800.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium, on ruled, laid paper. Fair: aged, with a 12.5 x 5 cm section cut away from the top of the first leaf, before the writing out of the poem. 63 lines, divided into six nine-line stanzas. The stanzas are numbered, and the poem is complete. The stanzas are numbered, and the poem is complete.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Aleyn Lyell Reade') from A. L. Reade, author of 'Johnsonian Gleanings' to fellow-Johnsonian Charles McCamic, with reference to Professor Albert W. Smith, Dean of Sibley College, Cornell University.

Author: 
A. L. Reade [Aleyn Lyell Reade] (1876-1953) of Blundellsands, genealogist and author of 'Johnsonian Gleanings' (11 vols, 1909-1952) [Charles McCamic; Albert William Smith; Samuel Johnson]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Treleaven House, Blundellsands, near Liverpool; 30 September 1924.
£180.00

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reade is pleased that McCamic has returned safely from his travels, and that they 'extended as far as Venice'. He is sending the 'Barber book' by book post, and gives the price. 'A few weeks ago I had Prof. Smith from Cornell University [Albert William Smith (1856-1942), Dean of Sibley College] to see me: he is a good Johnsonian.' He has had a letter in the TLS, and asks McCamic to send his own 'Johnsonian papers'. He sends his regards, 'in which the rest of the circle join'.

Typed Letter Signed from the American historian Albert J. Beveridge to Charles Gallup. With a transcript, in another hand, of a passage from Beveridge's article 'Pitfalls of a "League of Nations" (North American Review, 1882), signed by Beveridge.

Author: 
Albert J. Beveridge [Albert Jeremiah Beveridge] (1862-1927), American historian and United States Senator from Indiana [Charles Gallup; Chief Justice John Marshall; the League of Nations]
Publication details: 
Letter on letterhead of Beverly Farms, Massachusetts; 10 October 1919. Transcript made around the same time.
£350.00

Both items neatly tipped-in onto a leaf from an album. Both in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter is 1p., 8vo. Beveridge begins by explaining that he is late answering Gallup's letter because he has been 'working so hard for many months to finish the last two volumes of my "Life of John Marshall" that I have been forced to neglect all correspondence'. He is enclosing 'the quotation, autographed as requested'. He is glad Gallup liked the article, and 'flattered by your too partial words'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Alexr Chalmers') from the biographer Alexander Chalmers to James Perry, commenting humorously on an attack of gout.

Author: 
Alexander Chalmers (1759-1834), Scottish biographer and editor [James Perry (1756-1821), proprietor and editor of the 'Morning Chronicle']
Publication details: 
Throgmorton Street, London; 26 March 1821.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. Bifolium. Seventeen lines, closely written. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with thin strip of stub adhering to margin. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'J. Perry Esqre | Tavistock Square'. He will dine with Perry with pleasure, 'after a five weeks confinement with the Gout, a disorder of which I never before had any personal acquaintance, but which, I suppose, I must, in some unguarded moment, have treated with contempt.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Bunn') from the theatre manager Alfred Bunn to the widow of the actor Charles Mathews, praising her husband while defending an accusation of inconsistency on his part. With two notes by Mrs Mathews.

Author: 
Alfred Bunn (1796-1860), theatre manager, lessee of Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres [Anne Mathews [nee Jackson] (d.1869), second wife of the actor Charles Mathews (1776-1835)]
Publication details: 
6 Maddox Street, Bond Street; 11 August 1840.
£280.00

3pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper. Mathews begins by quoting contradictory passages from letters of Charles Mathews, one from Mrs Mathews' 'Memoirs of Charles Mathews, Comedian' (1839) and the other from Bunn's 'The Stage: Both before and behind the Curtain' (1840).

Two Autograph Letters Signed from Consul Amos Perry to William Whitwell Greenough, one describing the critical response to his book 'Carthage and Tunis, Past and Present', the other about the Rhode Island Historical Society and Boston Public Library.

Author: 
Amos Perry (1812-1899) of Providence, US Consul at Tunis to the Barbary States, 1862-1867, and author [William Whitwell Greenough (1818-1899), Boston merchant, co-founder of American Oriental Society]
Publication details: 
First Letter: Providence, Rhode Island; 5 February 1869. Second Letter: on letterhead of the Officce of the Secretary, Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence; 18 August 1880.
£600.00

Both items good, on lightly-aged paper. Letter One: 2pp., 12mo. 31 lines of text. Perry begins by asking when the 'class meeting' is 'to come off'. He then informs Greenough that 'Poor Vose has paid his last debt', and that he has received a reply to his letter of condolence from Mrs Vose. He complains that he has 'not heard a word from Little, Brown & Co. in respect to my book. Those papers - the Advertiser & the Transcript are slow in bringing out their notices. My book evidently does not take well in Boston.' He reminds Greenough that he still owes $5 for his copy. 'I am not in haste.

Autograph Letter Signed from the Scottish author Anne Grant to 'Mrs. Drysdale', boasting of her behaviour to 'People of the Highest Rank', and making 'perhaps the last' joke.

Author: 
Anne Grant [n
Publication details: 
'Coats Crescent [Edinburgh] | Friday' [no date].
£220.00

2pp., 12mo. 33 lines of text, written in a close, neat hand. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She begins with a five-line 'encomium', before assuring Mrs Drysdale that she is 'pretty safe': 'I have been considered By People of the Highest Rank to whom I was known merely as a private teacher &c &c of moral virtues To possess of <?> for the highest talents & the purest Virtues I have been familiar I need not say why. None of these I ever flattered.

Two Autograph drafts of a long poem by Arthur Benoni Evans (later Professor of Classics and History at Sandhurst), titled 'Lines [Verses] on the Death of the Princess Charlotte'. Both with corrections and emendations, and one signed 'A. B. Evans'.

Author: 
Arthur Benoni Evans (1781-1854), Professor of Classics and History in the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and headmaster of the free grammar school at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire
Publication details: 
Neither with date and place [one draft on paper watermarked 1816, and the other on paper watermarked 1818].
£450.00

Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the Prince Regent, died in 1817 at the age of 21. Many poems of mourning were published, but whether Evans's was among them is uncertain. Both drafts are in good condition, on aged paper; the first with short closed tears to the spine. DRAFT ONE (the earlier?): Title: 'Verse on the Death of the Princess Charlotte', altered from 'Threnodia Augustalis, Odes on the Death of the Princess Charlotte'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C. S. Henry') from Caleb Sprague Henry. editor of the New York Review, to William Whitwell Greenough, accepting an article, but complaining of Greenough's handwriting, and of 'a difficulty in getting Saxon type'.

Author: 
Caleb Sprague Henry (1804-1884), Episcopal clergyman and author, editor of the New York Review, Professor of History and Philosophy in New York University [William Whitwell Greenough (1818-1899]
Publication details: 
New York; 26 April 1838.
£350.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. 57 lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'William W. Greenough | Andover | Massachusetts', with circular postmark in red ink and remains of red wax seal. Regarding 'the article on Bosworth's Anglo-Sax. Dict.', Henry writes: 'From the few first pages that I have read & the glance that I have given at the rest, I am satisfied that I shall be glad to print your article.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. C. Loudon') from the Scottish botanist John Claudius Loudon to the bookseller 'Mr. Jones', of the firm Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, Finsbury Square, London.

Author: 
J. C. Loudon [John Claudius Loudon] (1783-1843), Scottish botanist, garden designer and editor [Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, booksellers, Finsbury Square, London]
Publication details: 
Bayswater House; 28 May 1818.
£350.00

2pp., 4to. On a bifolium, with the main text on the recto of the first page, and the postscript with the address on the verso of the second. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Tipped-in onto leaf removed from an autograph album. The book he enquired after on the previous day was 'any spanish work translated into french or English Interlineally for a beginner in that language'. He has seen German and Italian books 'so translated', and will be grateful if Jones can suggest a Spanish one.

Part of the corrected autograph draft manuscript of Timothy Pitkin's 'Statistical View of the Commerce of the United States of America' (1816), relating to the renewal of the charter of the Bank of North America at Washington.

Author: 
Timothy Pitkin (1766-1847), American Yale-educated lawyer, politician, historian and statistician [Bank of North America, Washington (now merged with Wells Fargo)]
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated, but written before the book's publication in 1816.
£850.00
Timothy Pitkin

2pp., on one side each of two 4to leaves headed '14' and '15'. 53 lines of text (25 lines to the first leaf and 28 lines to the second), with deletions and emendations. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with negligible cut to margin of second leaf (not affecting text). Neatly tipped-in to nineteenth-century grey paper wallet.

Eight Typed Letters Signed from Axel Munthe, author of 'The Story of San Michele', written in a charming and entertaining style to his young friend 'Miss Judith' - Judith Masefield, daughter of the English poet laureate John Masefield.

Author: 
Axel Munthe [Axel Martin Fredrik Munthe] (1857-1949), Swedish physician and author of 'The Story of San Michele' [Judith Masefield (1904-1988), daughter of the Poet Laureate John Masefield]
Publication details: 
Written from Italy and London in 1930 and (perhaps) 1931.
£1,600.00

'The Story of San Michele' is one of the most popular works of the twentieth century, and this delightful correspondence bears ample testimony to the extraordinary allure of its author. The eight letters are entirely legible, in fair condition on aged paper. They total 3 pp in folio, and 8 pp in 4to. The sequence is tentative, none of the letters giving the year. The numerous errors, in large part due to Munthe's growing blindness, are largely unnoticed in the following transcripts. Letter One (2 pp, 4to). 'Rome Villa Svezia Via Aldrovandi 27 Feb 8 [1930]'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('F Greville') from the diarist Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville to an unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville (1794–1865), Clerk to the Privy Council, and political diarist
Publication details: 
'Grosv[eno]r Place | Saturday [no date]'.
£56.00

1 p, 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, and still tipped-in onto leaf removed from album. Arranging a time at which to call on him. According to the Oxford DNB Greville moved from Grosvenor Place to Lord Granville's house in Bruton Street in 1849.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. S. Knowles') from the Irish dramatist James Sheridan Knowles to 'My Dear Kenneth'.

Author: 
James Sheridan Knowles (1784-1862), Irish dramatist [his wife, nee Emma Marian Maria Elphinstone (1807-1888)]
Publication details: 
Belfast; 15 December 1835.
£56.00

1 p, 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper, and still attached to a leaf removed from an autograph album. His troupe 'play in Manchester on the 11th. Jany. for one week. Now, observe! Can you effect an engagement for a week previous to or subsequent to that period - or both subsequent and previous.' Knowles will be in London, 'please God, next week', and the recipient's 'attention deserves and has' Knowles's gratitude. A postscript reads: 'Miss Elphinstone achieved a complete triumph in Edinburgh, the reception was great indeed. You know our terms'.

Two Autograph Letters Signed from the Oxford Professor of Fine Arts, Selwyn Image, to 'My dear Barnard' [Rev. P. M. Barnard?], regarding funghi and moths.

Author: 
Selwyn Image (1849-1930), Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University [Rev. Percy Mordaunt Barnard (1868-1941) of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, antiquarian bookseller]
Publication details: 
Both from 20 Fitzroy Street, W.; 12 and 17 August 1908.
£175.00

Both items good, on aged paper. Written in Image's distinctive calligraphic hand. Letter One (12 August 1908): 1 p, 12mo. The 'Galatheas' arrived the previous evening 'quite safe'. 'Fancy your being at The Warren as well as at Deal! The Warren [Folkestone] is famous for being stocked with good things. You are indeed in the very heart of the richest entomological country in England.' Letter Two (17 August 1908): 2 pp, 12mo. He is delighted with 'these beautiful ochroleuca, which arrived this afternoon quite safely'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. Melmoth') from the writer William Melmoth the Younger to the attorney Joseph Sharpe

Author: 
William Melmoth the Younger (c.1710-1799), translator of Pliny and Cicero, and author of 'Fitzosborne's Letters' (1748, 1749)
Publication details: 
Bath; 15 January 1767.
£180.00

1 p, 4to. Nine lines, in a neat and close hand. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, and still tipped-in onto a leaf from an autograph album. Addressed, with two postmarks, on reverse of second leaf of bifolium, to 'Mr. Jos. Sharpe, | at his chambers in | Lincolns Inn | London'. He wrote to Sharpe five weeks previously, sending a lease for his perusal, 'and likewise to authorise you to deliver up my sister's plate upon Mr. Argile paying you ye. <?> I agreed to take.' If the latter matter is still unsettled, he instructs Sharpe to apply to Argile's attorney 'to settle it forthwith'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('B Price') from Bonamy Price, Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University, to 'My dear General' at Yale, following an 'American journey'.

Author: 
Bonamy Price (1807-1888), Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University, and Fellow of Worcester College [William Graham Sumner (1840-1910), Professor of Sociology, Yale University]
Publication details: 
2 March 1875; on letterhead of 2 Norham Gardens, Oxford.
£180.00

4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 63 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Difficult hand. He thanks him for 'the Statistical Tables', admitting with 'some shame' that he needs 'an interpreter for part of the tables on page 68'. Describes the problem in detail, and discusses 'the sly remark that "the change is being made quite as abruptly as would be safe".

Autograph Manuscript of Captain Basil Hall, RN, FRS, cut from letter, and with his signature, giving his plans while in America.

Author: 
Captain Basil Hall (1788-1844), RN, FRS, naval officer, traveller and author, friend of Sir Walter Scott
Publication details: 
Note in contemporary hand reads 'From Washington - 13 Jan: 1828.'
£280.00

On one side of a piece of paper approximately 18.5 x 6.5 cm, neatly cut from a letter. Laid down on a piece of 22.5 x 28 cm paper, and with a border drawn around it. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'We have been most kindly & hospitably received by every body & I find such a variety of character & even of incident (of a political kind) that I rejoice exceedingly at having come here in the first instance. We still propose leaving this on the 1st. of Feby., Charleston on the 1st. of March, & New Orleans on the 1st.

Corrected Autograph Manuscript of part of Captain Thomas Mayne Reid's 1866 novel 'Afloat in the Forest'.

Author: 
Captain Thomas Mayne Reid (1818-1883), Irish-American novelist
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated [circa 1866].
£450.00

1 p, folio. On grey paper. Fair, on aged paper, with slight spotting and chipping to extremities affecting a few words of text. A whole page of the manuscript, numbered '9' and written entirely in Reid's hand, with a few minor emendations by him, from Chapter XXVI, 'Treed by an Alligator'. Begins with the reported speech: '"That would be anything but pleasant - perhaps more so [last word emended from 'unpleasant'] to those who are waiting for us, than to ourselves.

Autograph Note Signed ('Dion: Lardner') from Dr Dionysius Lardner, editor of the Cabinet Cyclopaedia, to W. S. Tuckerman of Boston; with original print of the drawing of 'The Editor of the "Cabinet Cyclopaedia"' by 'Alfred Croquill'.

Author: 
Dr Dionysius Lardner (1793-1859), Irish writer on science, editor of the Cabinet Cyclopaedia; 'Alfred Crowquill' [Alfred Henry Forrester (1804-1872)], English caricaturist
Publication details: 
Note: 30 October 1843; Boston. Print: undated.
£28.00

Note: 1 p, 4to. Addressed on reverse to 'W. S. Tuckerman Esq | Post Office | Boston', with red ink postmark and remains of red wax seal. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'Boston 30 Octr. 1843 | [name deleted] Esq | Sir | I have much pleasure in complying with the request conveyed in your letter of Saturdays date. | I remain yours very truly | [signed] Dion: Lardner'. Print: 11.5 x 17.5 cm (including 0.5 cm white border). In good condition, neatly laid down on piece of wove paper, 22.5 x 29 cm, with black ink border.

Autograph Letter Signed ('H. Taine'), in French, from the critic Hippolyte Taine to an unnamed firm of English-language publishers, thanking them for payment for a translation of his 'Histoire de la Littérature Anglaise', and discussing other works.

Author: 
Hippolyte Taine (1828-1893), French critic and historian [Henri Van Laun (1820-1896); Edmonston & Douglas, Edinburgh publishers]
Publication details: 
30 March 1872; Chatenay par Antony, Seine.
£180.00

3 pp, 16mo. 47 lines. Text clear and complete. In small tight and difficult hand. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. He begins by thanking them for the cheque for a thousand francs for the translation of the book by Henri Van Laun, before going on, in response to an enquiry from the recipients, to discuss other translations of his work into English, with reference to the London publishers Sampson Low & Co, and Reeves & Co.

Two Autograph Letters Signed ('Horatio Hale' and 'H. Hale') from the ethnologist Horatio Hale to the Boston merchant W. W. Greenough, discussing matters including a future Lowell Institute lecture. With carte-de-visite photograph of Hale.

Author: 
Horatio Hale [Horatio Emmons Hale] (1817-1896), American-Canadian ethnologist and anthropologist, noted for his studies of Native Americans [William Whitwell Greenough (1818-1899), Boston merchant]
Publication details: 
Letter One: 22 December 1882. Letter Two: 15 November 1886. Both from Clinton, Ontario, Canada.
£650.00

All three items in good condition. Letter One: 22 December 1882. 7 pp, 12mo. On two bifoliums. In this letter Hale explains his reasons for turning down, despite the urging of his friends, the invitation to give 'six lectures, suitable for a Lowell Institute course'. He begins by apologising for not answering as a result of illness: 'this is the first time for ten years that I have been kept from attending my office by such a cause'. Since his 'Indian researches have become known' he has had many calls upon his time: 'I now find that I have been attempting too much.

Autograph Letter Signed from Jane Hood, wife of the poet Thomas Hood, to 'Mrs Elliot', wife of the family doctor, Robert Elliot of Camberwell, containing news of the poet and his work, money troubles and family affairs, at the end of their lives.

Author: 
Jane Hood [née Jane Reynolds], (1791-1846), wife of the poet and humorist Thomas Hood (1799-1845)
Publication details: 
'Wednesday' [1844 or 1845); 'Devonshire Lodge | New Finchley Road | St Johns Wood'.
£450.00

4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 73 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Hood returned to England from Ostend in 1840, moving into Devonshire Lodge after trying other lodgings. A fine letter, informative, energetic and moving. Jane begins by thanking Mrs Elliot for the 'kind present to my Tom [the couple's son Thomas Hood the younger (1835-1874)]': 'I only wish you could have seen the happy boy - how proud he was - and indeed is, of his new appearance - he sends his love & best thanks. I am sorry to say he does not yet write a readable letter'.

Autograph Letter Signed from the eighteenth-century satirist and caricaturist John Collier ['Tim Bobbin'] to his 'Dear Cousin', discussing his health and family matters.

Author: 
John Collier (1708-1786), satirist and caricaturist under the name 'Tim Bobbin', author of 'Tummus and Mary' (1746), 'the earliest significant piece of Lancashire dialect to be published'
Publication details: 
23 June 1778; Milnrow, near Rochdale, Lancashire.
£650.00

2 pp, 4to. Forty lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of mount adhering to blank areas of the reverse of the leaf. A playful, jaunty letter containing valuable personal and family information. He was pleased to learn from 'Mr Shaw of Lees (who desires his complimts)' that the recipient is 'not only in the land of the living, but in the business of the Excise, and still raps at the ends of Barrels, and takes dimensions of bungs & diameters as usual'. Asks after his wife, and 'how long you had been a Cheshire man'.

Autograph Manuscript of the American actor and poet John Howard Payne, either an original poem or a translation, entitled 'Ode the Sixteenth. | The Herb Rue'.

Author: 
John Howard Payne (1791-1852), American actor and playwright, best-known for his song 'Home, Sweet Home'
Publication details: 
Place and date not stated.
£165.00

2 pp, 4to. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with slight wear to extremities. On one leaf, with both sides ruled with red borders. In Payne's neat and distinctive hand, and attributed to him in pencil at head.

Autograph Signature of John Hunter, LLD, Professor of Humanity at the University of St Andrews, with accompanying note by Rev. Thomas Dick.

Author: 
John Hunter (1745-1837), Professor of Humanity, University of St Andrews, Fife, and classical scholar [Rev. Thomas Dick (1774-1857), writer on science]
Publication details: 
[February 1834]; St Andrews, Fife.
£56.00

On one side of piece of paper approximately 18 x 8.5 cm. Neatly placed in a windowpane mount of laid paper, 25 x 20 cm. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Written in a clear, firm hand: 'John Hunter LL.D. | Profr. of Humanity | St. Andrews. | Fife.' Beneath this, along the foot of the page, in a small hand (identified in note on mount as 'The writing of Dr Dick, author of "The Christian Philosopher &c'): 'Dr Hunter is about 90 years of age, and still retains his bodily & mental vigour | This Autograph was written in Feby. 1834. T. D.'

Mimeographed typescript history of a club for New York antiquarian booksellers, titled 'The Old Book Table | A Social Organisation | An Informal Record 1931-1970 | Lists of Officers & Members and of Guests of The Old Book Table | &c., &c.'

Author: 
The Old Book Table, club for New York antiquarian booksellers, founded 1931 [Ernest R. Gee; E. Byrne Hackett, Brick Row Bookshop; Frank R. Thoms (Thoms and Eron); Edgar H. Wells; Geoffrey J. L. Gomme]
Publication details: 
Undated [1971]. New York: The OBT [i.e. The Old Book Table].
£600.00

[iv] + 39 + 7 pp, with a further 17 pp loosely inserted at back (making a total of 67 pp), 4to. Good, in maroon plastic folder. Preface followed by list of 'Past Officers, Roster of Members, etc.', 'Chronology of The Old Book Table [1931-1970]' and 'Alphabetical List of Guests 1933-1970'. The loose leaves mainly consist of 'Extracts from the Minutes: 1931-1954'. The preface begins: 'Five members of the antiquarian booktrade in New York City met for a friendly dinner on the night of 9 January 1931. They were: Ernest R. Gee, a leading specialist in sporting and color plate books; E.

Two Autograph Letters Signed (both 'T: Dibdin') from the playwright and song-writer Thomas Dibdin to his publisher John Whitaker of Button & Whitaker of St Paul's Churchyard, discussing work and finances; with an autograph cheque signed by Dibdin.

Author: 
Thomas Dibdin [Thomas John Dibdin] (1771-1841), dramatist, song-writer, author of pantomime 'Mother Goose' and song 'The Snug Little Island' [Button & Whitaker, music publishers, St Pauls Churchyard]
Publication details: 
The two letters: 'Weston Green 10th: July [1812]' and 'Johnsons Coffee House | Monday Evg: [July 1812]'. Cheque: 'London September 19th: 1817'.
£320.00

All three items are on stubs, within a card wallet. All good, on aged paper. Letter One: 'Weston Green 10th: July'. 1 p, 4to. On bifolium, with verso of second leaf addressed to 'Mr: Whitaker | St: Pauls Church Yard | London', with two postmarks (one 'KINGSTON - T | 12'), and docketed 'Mr; T.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Tom Sheridan') from the actor and soldier Thomas Sheridan, son of the playright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, to his mother Elizabeth [née Lindley], reporting on his schoolmaster Dr Samuel Parr.

Author: 
Thomas Sheridan [Tom Sheridan] (1775-1817), actor and soldier, son of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) and his first wife Elizabeth [née Linley] (1754-1792) [Dr Samuel Parr; Sarah Siddons]
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated [between 1786 and the mother's death in 1792].
£750.00

2 pp, 4to. 25 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of stub still adhering to one margin. Addressed to 'Dear Mother'. He is displeased with his aunt, but pleased that his mother is 'so much better'. He goes to Hatton (where Parr had set up a school in 1786) on the Tuesday, 'with the Dr: [i.e. Parr] who desires his Compts. I went with him last night to see Mrs. Siddons who he likes very much.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm: Melmoth') to 'my very dear Sophia [Walters]', exhibiting a warmth unusual in one writing 'at the advanced Age of eighty five'.

Author: 
William Melmoth the Younger (c.1710-1799), translator of Pliny and Cicero, and author of 'Fitzosborne's Letters' (1748, 1749) [Sophia Walters]
Publication details: 
Date and place not stated. Docketed in a contemporary hand: '1798 Written at the advanced Age of eighty five [sic, for 88]'.
£180.00

1 p, landscape 12mo (18.5 x 11.5 cm). Eleven long lines in a small neat hand. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Tipped in onto a piece of paper, 21 x 13 cm. The reference to Melmoth's 'advanced Age' is at the foot of the page. Docketed on reverse in a contemporary hand: 'From Mr. Melmoth to Mrs. Walters'. Begins: 'Believe me, my very dear Sophia, I am so truely [sic] your obedient servant in every affectionate & friendly sense of those terms, that there is no office in which you can employ me I shd.

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