PITT

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[ P. G. Wodehouse, humorist. ] Two typewritten drafts, each with autograph emendations, of 'The Day I met the Master', Barrie Pitt's account of his encounter with Wodehouse in Tost internment camp. With printed version the article, and other material

Author: 
[ P. G. Wodehouse [ Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ] (1881-1975), English humorist ] Barrie Pitt (1918-2006), military historian, editor of 'Purnell's History of the Second World War'
Publication details: 
1992 and 1993.
£180.00

All items in good condition, with minor signs of age. The drafts are both printed on yellow paper. Each is 4pp., 4to. The two appear the same textually, but one has two slips of paper with amended text attached, and the autograph emendations to the two are different from one another. Also present is a leaf from 'Lifewise' magazine, November 1993, with one page carrying Pitt's memoir, accompanied by a photograph of Wodehouse being interviewed at Tost by Angus Thuermer. The piece begins: 'I first saw P. G.

[ Alan Pitt Robbins, news editor of The Times. ] Signed Copy of Typed Letter to the theatre impresario Prince Littler, regarding the possibility of a charity performance of 'My Fair Lady', and the Festival Dinner of the Newspaper Press Fund.

Author: 
Alan Pitt Robbins (1888-1967), news editor of The Times, 1909-1953; secretary of the Press Council, 1954-1960 [ Prince Frank Littler [ born Prince Frank Richeux ] (1903-1985), theatre impressario ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of the Newspaper Press Fund, Bouverie House, Fleet Street, London. 21 October 1957.
£56.00

2pp., 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter begins with a reference to W. Macqueen-Pope, 'who has been a close friend of mine in the worlds of journalism and the theatre for more years than either of us may wish to remember - at least forty'. Having applied unsuccessfully for seats at the premiere of 'My Fair Lady' he suggests a 'special performance' for 'those members of the journalistic profession who fall by the wayside'.

[ Cyril Clemens, editor of the Mark Twain Journal. ] Typed Letter Signed to military historian Barrie Pitt, informing him of his election as 'A Knight of Mark Twain'. With photocopy of letter from Winston Churchill to Clemens, inscribed to Pitt.

Author: 
Cyril Clemens [ Cyril Coniston Clemens ] (1902-1999), editor, Mark Twain Journal [ Barrie Pitt (2006), military historian; Winston Spencer Churchill ]
Publication details: 
Clemens' letter to Pitt is dated 5 May 1978. On his letterhead as editor of the Mark Twain Journal, Kirkwood, Missouri. The photocopy is of a Churchill letter dated from 10 Downing Street, 25 October 1943.
£65.00

ONE: Typed Letter Signed from Clemens to Pitt. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Expansive signature in blue ink. Letterhead with printed quotations from President Ford, Carl Van Doren, William Faulkener, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Message reads: 'Dear Barrie Pitt | In recognition of your outstanding contribution to Biography, you have been unanimously elected, in succession to the late Captain Basil Liddell Hart | A KNIGHT | of | MARK TWAIN'. TWO: Photocopy of letter from Churchill to Clemens.

[ Barrie Pitt, military historian. ] Collection of material apparently assembled during the writing of his book 'Churchill and the Generals', including typescript of a piece on Montgomery of Alamein, titled 'The Making of a Field Marshall'.

Author: 
[ Barrie Pitt (1918-2006), military historian and editor, 'Purnell's History of the Second World War'
Publication details: 
None of the items with place or date. [ 'Churchill and the Generals' published in 1981. ]
£235.00

The collection is in good condition, with light signs of age and wear. ONE: Photocopied typescript of the beginning of a piece titled 'The Making of a Field Marshall', on the early career of Montgomery of Alamein. 10pp., 8vo. With a few autograph emendations. Ends abruptly. Apparently unpublished. TWO: Two black and white press photographs, each 13.5 x 19cm.

[ 'Purnell's History of the Second World War.' ] Folder of material gathered by editor Barrie Pitt, mainly consisting of typescripts of signed translations from Italian by H. Fields, but also containing a typewritten paper on the Special Boat Service

Author: 
[ Barrie Pitt (1918-2006), military historian and editor, 'Purnell's History of the Second World War'; General Giuseppe Mancinelli (1895-1976); H. Fields, translator ]
Publication details: 
Fields' translations all date from 1968. The other items without date or place.
£450.00

Despite the name, the series was published by was published by Phoebus Publishing Ltd, in co-operation with the Imperial War Museum, from 1966. Sir Basil Liddell-Hart was first editor-in-chief, followed after his death by A. J. P. Taylor. The items in this collection are loosely inserted in a buff folder, with 'Sub-editing, Production | Illustrations, Art-work etc' in red ink on cover, under which, in black ink, the name 'Peter Dunbar'. Nine articles, together with nine notes and 'integrating notes' on various articles, all translated by H.

[ British North Africa Force, Tunisia Campaign, 1943. ] Corrected draft of typescript: 'A Summary of Events and Movements of our own Tps during the Kournine Battle, 22-30 April 43', with seven original manuscript tracings of battlefield positions

Author: 
[ British North Africa Force [ BNAF ], Tunisia Campaign; Battle of Kournine, 1943; Second World War ]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [ British North Africa Force, Tunisia and Algeria, 1943. ]
£650.00

ONE: Corrected draft of typescript: 'A Summary of Events and Movements of our own Tps during the Kournine Battle, 22-30 April 43'. 9pp., 8vo. On nine leaves attached in one corner to remains of buff card folder, with 'KOURNINE BATTLE' in orange pencil on front cover. Original top copy typescript, with a few pencil emendations. The summary is divided into 24 sections, beginning with 'Regrouping of 9 Corps' and 'Special Preliminary Tasks'. The first page is a table of contents, listing the seven maps in item two as Traces A to G.

[ 6 Armoured Divison and 9 Corps of the British Army, Tunisian Campaign, North Africa, 1943. ] Two duplicated documents, the first marked 'SECRET' and titled '6 Armd Div. | Log of R/T Messages on Rear Link and Sitreps to 9 Corps 9-12 Apr 43.'

Author: 
[ 6 Armoured Divison and 9 Corps of the British Army, Tunisian Campaign, North Africa, 1943 ]
Publication details: 
Without place or date, but relating to the 6 Armoured Divison and 9 Corps of the British Army, North Africa, 9-12 and 22-27 April 1943.
£450.00

22pp., 8vo. Each page on a separate leaf. The first document is 9pp. long and the second of 13pp. Both documents with the leaves pinned together. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with strip of paper at the head of the first page of the second document torn away, with all of title except for words '<...> and Sitreps t<...>'. Loosely inserted in buff card folder. The bread and butter of military history: a straight transcription of the messages. The first entry in the first document is typical: '9 Apr 43. | 0730 hrs : To 9 Corps | 0.361 Sitrep 0700 hrs. 26 Armd Bde.

[ 6 Armoured Division, BNAF, Tunisia Campaign, 1943. ] Two duplicated 'SECRET' intelligence documents, the first 'Plan for obtaining the maximum and detailed information about the enemy', and the second 'Intelligence at an Armd Div H.Q.'

Author: 
[ 6 Armoured Division, British North Africa Force [ BNAF ], intelligence documents, 1943; Tunisia Campaign; Battle for Tunis, North African Campaign, 1943 ]
Publication details: 
[ British North Africa Force. ] The first: 'GSO.3(I) | 6 Armd Div. | IN THE FIELD | 25 Mar 43.' The second without place or date.
£400.00

Both items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. ONE: 'Plan for obtaining the Maximum and Detailed Information about the Enemy.' Headed 'MOST SECRET'. 2pp., 8vo. On two leaves stapled together. With illegible facsimile signature of author at end: ' Capt', followed by typed 'GSO.3(I) | 6 Armd Div. | IN THE FIELD | 25 Mar 43.' Copy numbered '9' in manuscript. Divided into three sections: 'Appreciation of Type of Operation likely to be carried out by an Armd Div.', 'Method' and 'Security'.

[ Keith Douglas Young, United States intelligence officer. ] Three Typed Letters Signed (all 'Keith') to military historian Barrie Pitt, discussing topics including his military career, assassination attempts on his life, military intelligence.

Author: 
Keith Douglas Young (b.1916), Australian-born United States intelligence officer, with the 15th Air Force, author of memoir 'Born to Adventure' (1945) [ Barrie Pitt (1918-2006), military historian ]
Publication details: 
All three on his letterhead, Coronado, California. The first two dating from 1977, and the last from 1989.
£1,000.00

Three long letters, closely typed. Each 3pp., 4to. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. Topics include: his military career; unreliability of field intelligence; the impossibility of 'training future POWs'; his career at the Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs. ONE: 20 September 1977. On the subject of 'intelligence garnered in the field.

[ General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor, English soldier. ] Unpublished duplicated typescript giving an 'account of the Western Desert Campaign, the period of my Command in Cairo, and the story of my capture'.

Author: 
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor (1889-1981), English soldier, Commander of the Western Desert Force, North Africa, 1940-1941
Publication details: 
The first part dated from the 'Prisoner of War Camp, Sulmona, Italy'. 20 April 1941.
£600.00

116pp., 4to. In good condition, with light signs of age and wear. On loose leaves, loosely inserted in a buff card folder. A negative duplication from microfilm, with the typed letters showing as white against a grey background. In three parts: 'The First Lybian Campaign' (86pp.), 'Period from end of 1st Lybian Campaign to the beginning of the 2nd Campaign' (12pp.) and 'Cyrenaica Again' (8pp.). A final 10-page section begins '11. 6th April'. With six parts of pages, giving clearer versions of passages unclear in the main typescript.

[ 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.

[ Chief Signals Officer, 9 Corps, British Army, North African, Second World War. ] Duplicated typescript: 'C.S.O. 9 Corps | Signal Report on the Tunisian Campaign, 1943.' With coloured maps and diagrams.

Author: 
[ Chief Signals Officer, 9 Corps, British Army, Tunisia Campaign, North Africa, Second World War ]
Publication details: 
[ Tunisian Campaign, 1943. ]
£600.00

29pp., 8vo. On white and pink paper. Followed by three fold-out plates and two diagrams, all in colour ('Battle of Fondouk', 'Battles of Goubellat Plain & Tunis', 'Later Phase of Battle of Tunis', 'Wireless Communications | H.Q. 9 Corps - Apr/May 1943 | Standard Layout', 'Wireless Communications | Corps H.Q. | Suggested requirements'). Stapled, with grey front cover bearing title. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with the last few plates detached.

[ Royal Armoured Corps, British Army, North African Campaign, Second World War. ] Duplicated document: 'R.A.C. North Africa | Information Bulletin | No. 6'.

Author: 
[ Royal Armoured Corps, British Army, North African Campaign, Second World War ]
Publication details: 
'MOST SECRET'. Without date or place. [ British Army, North Africa, circa 1942. ]
£500.00

15pp., folio. Stapled into pink printed wraps. Title on front cover, with 'MOST SECRET'. Copy number 53 in blue pencil. In fair condition, on browned high-acidity paper. Front cover coming away from rusted staples. At head of first page: 'NOTE: SECURITY | Attention is drawn to the fact that this document is graded "MOST SECRET". It will not be distributed below Lieutenant Colonels' commands.' Contents page divides the document into two parts: 'Equipment' and 'Organisation'.

[ Tunisia Campaign, Second World War. ] Set of twenty-two printed coloured fold-out GSGS British Army maps of Tunisia, with index. With covering Autograph Note Signed from Vincent Jones to military historian Barrie Pitt.

Author: 
Captain Vincent Duncan Jones, 6th Armoured Division, British Army [ Tunisia Campaign [ Battle of Tunisia; Run for Tunis ] 1942-1943, in the Second World War North Africa Campaign ] [ Barrie Pitt ]
Publication details: 
GSGS [ Geographical Section, General Staff ]. Without date or place. [ Circa 1940 and 1941. ]
£400.00

Twenty-one of the twenty-two maps are stapled into a buff card folder, bearing on the cover, in manuscript: Maj. V. S. Duncan-Jones. | Tunisia | 1/200,000'. The twenty-second map loosely inserted, as is Jones's autograph letter to Pitt. In fair condition, with light signs of age and wear. The bound maps, all of which are in colour and all around 50 x 33 cm., are numbered in pencil 1 to 23, with 16 and 20 lacking.

[ General H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. ] Typed Letter Signed to British military historian Barrie Pitt, declining to contribute to a publication, and

Author: 
H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr (1934-2012), United States Army general, commander of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm [ Barrie Pitt ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 400 North Ashley, Suite 3050, Tampa, Florida 33602. 4 January 1994.
£180.00

1p., 4to. With a firm expansive signature which is certainly not duplicated, as it has indented the paper. On letterhead with design showing golden flagpole with flag in red with four white stars. Schwarzkopf declines to participate in what he describes as Pitt's 'momentous undertaking', explaining: 'To write such a piece and do so properly requires considerable time.

[ George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe. ] Two Typed Letters Signed (both 'George Jellicoe') to military historian Barrie Pitt, regarding his 'escape from Leros' in the aftermath of the Dodecanese Campaign during the Second World War.

Author: 
George Patrick John Rushworth Jellicoe (1918-2007), 2nd Earl Jellicoe [ Barrie Pitt (1918-2006), military historian ]
Publication details: 
Both on his letterhead, 30 Gresham Street, London. 21 July and 24 November 1983.
£350.00

Both items 1p., 4to. Both in good condition, with light signs of age. ONE: 21 July 1983. A previous letter appears to have been lost, and he is 'dictating this in the country'. He begins his account: 'As far as the surrender at Leros is concerned my memory of the early events that evening is rather vague. It is very probable that I worked my way through to Brigade Headquarters with a small party consisting of Sgt. Workman, Cpl. Dryden and L/Cpl. Allen. However it would have been quite impossible to have got there by jeep as the trip involved more or less crossing the German positions.

[ Lord William Pitt Lennox. ] Autograph Letter Signed ('Willm P. Lennox') to an unnamed recipient, regarding the sale of a copyright to the London publishers Hurst & Blackett.

Author: 
Lord William Pitt Lennox (1799-1881), British Army officer and author [ Hurst & Blackett, London publishers ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Hall Place, Tunbridge. 16 July 1863.
£80.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition. The subject of the letter is probably Lennox's Fifty Years' Biographical Reminiscences', published by Hurst and Blackett in 1863. Lennox is 'extremely flattered' at the contents of the recipient's letter, but has 'disposed of the copy right to Messrs Hurst and Blackett. 13. Gr. Marlborough St.', to whom he refers the recipient. 'Had I been in London I would have done myself the pleasure of expressing my thanks in person'.

[Michael Angelo Taylor, Whig Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed ('M A. Taylor') to an unnamed recipient, expressing pleasure at the fact that a prosecution under his own act has been dropped.

Author: 
Michael Angelo Taylor (1757-1834), English Whig Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
Richmond. 3 January 1834.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter reads: 'Sir | It gives me sincere Pleasure to learn that The Information against you was quashed. The Offence charged, does not come either within The Letter or The Spirit of my Act. I am only vexed that you have had so much Trouble.' Taylor's connection with the Metropolitan Paving Act of 1817, led to it being referred to as 'Michael Angelo Taylor's Act', but it is unclear which act he is referring to in this letter.

[Philip Henry Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope, as Lord Mahon.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Mahon') to 'Badcock' [William Stanhope Badcock], discussing the 'disasters' in Holland, his brother's military career, 'the late fraud', his 'African Sheep & Goat'.

Author: 
Philip Henry Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope (1781-1855), English aristocrat (until 1816 Lord Mahon), nephew of William Pitt the younger [Vice Admiral William Stanhope Badcock [Lovell] (1788-1859)]
Publication details: 
'Loake's Hill [near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire], April 2d. 1814.'
£130.00

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. An excellent letter, filled with content. Mahon has received Badcock's letter and is 'glad to find that you have had the company of Lord & Lady Buckingham at Portsmouth'. Following 'the disasters that have taken place in Holland' (the Six Days' Campaign) he expected 'that the Militia Battalion would have been sent thither, & indeed there seems to have been some hesitation upon the subject of their destination, as their departure has been delayed long after they were embarked'.

Secretarial Letter Signed ('C Vaublanc') from the French Minister of the Interior the Comte de Vaublanc [to the English Member of Parliament John Blackburne], enclosing a facsimile of Queen Marie Antoinette's last letter by Pierre Picquet.

Author: 
Vincent-Marie Viénot, Comte de Vaublanc (1756-1845), French Minister of the Interior; Pierre Picquet, engraver; John Blackburne (1754-1833), MP for Lancashire, 1784-1830; Queen Marie Antoinette
Publication details: 
Vaublanc's letter from Paris, 13 April 1816. Picquet's engraving without date or place.
£950.00

The two items are in very good condition, on lightly aged paper. Item One: Secretarial Letter, in French, by 'C Vaublanc', Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc (1756-1845), 'Le Ministre Secretaire d'Etat de L'Intérieur' [French Minister of the Interior]. Paris, 13 April 1816. He is sending the 'fac simile De la Lettre de notre Infortunée Reine', and in order to dispel any doubts as to authenticity has initialled the foot of the third page.

Printed broadside ballad titled 'Old Coal's Joke.' [A satire on King George IV's marriage to Queen Caroline, parodying the nursery rhyme of 'Old King Cole'.]

Author: 
[King George IV of the United Kingdom (1762-1830) [previously Prince Regent] and his wife Queen Caroline [Caroline of Brunswick] (1768-1821); Hodgson & Co., printers; broadside ballad]
Publication details: 
Without place or date. [London: Hodgson & Co., 1821?]
£150.00

On one side of a strip of wove paper, 46.5 x 9.5 cm. Cut down. In fair condition, on aged and lightly ruckled paper. 96 lines arranged in 12 numbered eight-line stanzas.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. Huskisson') from the Tory politician William Huskisson, Member of Parliament for Chichester, to 'My dear Morley', as First Commissioner of the Woods and Forests, regarding hares and rabbits in Delamere Forest., Cheshire

Author: 
William Huskisson (1770-1830), Tory politician, Member of Parliament (for boroughs including Chichester, 1812-23; Liverpool, 1823-30); early railway casualty, struck by George Stephenson's Rocket
Publication details: 
Whitehall Place [London]; 3 February 1817.
£95.00

3pp., 12mo. 27 lines. Fair, on aged paper, with some closed tears along crease lines.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Amherst') from William Pitt Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst of Arracon, to his London agent T[homas] Carr.

Author: 
William Pitt Amherst (1773-1857), 1st Earl Amherst of Arracan, Governor-General of India, 1823-1828
Publication details: 
7 August 1830; Grosvenor Street, London.
£75.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('Amherst') from William Pitt Amherst

4to, 1 p. Twelve lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to Carr at 28 John Street, Bedford Row. Two postmarks in red ink, including one from 'Duke St M[anchester] S[quare]'; with Amherst's seal in black wax. Regarding 'Mr. Fowler's interview with the Tenants' and what to do with his 'Bankers Check Book' during his absence in Montreal.

Copy of manuscript 'King's Warrant' [King George III], declaring 'Major General Saml. Townsend, discharged from further accounting for the Sum of £17464. 14. 8 received by him for Recruiting Service from the end of the year 1778, to 24th. June 1786.'

Author: 
[Major-General Samuel Irwin Townsend (1732-1794), 19th Foot; American War of Independence; King George III'; William Pitt the Younger; Edward James Eliot; Sir John Aubrey]
Publication details: 
'Given at Our Court at Saint James's this First day of May 1787 in the Twenty Seventh Year of Our Reign.'
£280.00
Major-General Samuel Irwin Townsend

Folio, 2 pp. On first leaf of bifolium, with the verso of the second leaf docketed, under the heading 'King's Warrant'. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Headed '(Copy)', and with 'George R' in a bold hand in the top left-hand corner. Although the signature is almost certainly not in the hand of the king, the document is docketed in pencil: 'Signature of his late beloved Majesty King George III on Copy of a Warrant retained by General Saml. Townsend'.

Autograph Signature of William Pitt Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst ('Amherst') on frank addressed to 'Robert Barrie Esqre. Captain of H.M.S. Pomone'.

Author: 
William Pitt Amherst (1773-1857), 1st Earl Amherst, British diplomat and colonial administrator (sometime Ambassador Extraordinary to China) [Captain Sir Robert Barrie (1774-1841) of HMS Pomone]
Publication details: 
Undated.
£35.00
Autograph Signature of William Pitt Amherst

On rectangle of paper, 11 x 5.5 cm, cut from front frank. Aged and spotted, with closed tear at head repaired on reverse with archival tape. The whole in Amherst's hand, with his signature (as usual on frank) in bottom left-hand corner between two horizontal lines. Launched in 1805, the Pomone was a 38-gun Leda-class fifth rate Royal Navy ship, built by Josiah and Thomas Brindley at Frindsbury. She saw action during the Napoleonic Wars, primarily in the Mediterranean, and was wrecked off the Needles in 1811.

The Antient Usage In Bearing of such Ensigns of Honour As are commonly call'd Arms. With A Catalogue of the present Nobility and Baronets of England. ['Catalogue of Books Printed at the Theatre in Oxford [...] sold in London, by Mose Pitt' at end.]

Author: 
Sir William Dugdale, Garter Principal King of Arms [Catalogue of Books Printed at the Theater in Oxford; Moses Pitt, bookseller of St Paul's]
Publication details: 
The Second Edition Corrected, 1682. Oxford: Printed at the Theater for Moses Pitt, and sold by Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard, London.
£350.00

12mo, [viii] + 210 pp, together with four unpaginated pages before p. 79 and two unpaginated pages before p. 165. With fold-out list of Knights of the Garter. On aged paper, in worn eighteenth-century binding, lacking spine, and with front board and title-leaf almost detached from rest. Ownership inscription, at head of p.1, 'Mary Standish of Standish - Her Book'; and a couple of ownership initials on title-page.

Autograph Letter Signed "M.A. Hughes" to Richard Twining,jun., Banker and Tea Merchant (see DNB

Author: 
Mrs M.A. Hughes, author, grandmother of Thomas Hughes, central to the literary society of her day.
Publication details: 
No place, 24 Sept. [1807].
£350.00

Three pages, 4to, but cross-written, making six pages of writing, sometimes hard to read, small piece of letter with a few words detached but present. Mrs Hughes is her usual informative, authoritative, lively and intelligent self, initially discussing the British disaster at Buenos Ayres. being unable to think of "a worse planned or more ill-fated expedition" in which the dead were "sacrificed". She attacks the commander, the Duke of York, in no uncertain terms: she hopes it's not a crime to wish him out of a world to which he he'd done so little good.

Engraved armorial bookplate, designed by Charles Catton and engraved by Francis Chesham, for Lord Camelford.

Author: 
Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (1737-1793), politician and art collector [Charles Catton the elder (1728-1798), R.A., painter; Francis Chesham (1749–1806), engraver; bookplates; ex libris]
Publication details: 
Undated [1770s?].
£35.00

Steel-engraving, on a piece of thick laid paper, 12.5 x 17.5 cm. Fair, on lightly-aged and foxed paper. Never mounted, and so with no glue staining or other marking to blank reverse. Depicts Camelford's armorial crest, flanked by two birds, with motto 'PER . ARDUA . LIBERI .' At foot, in copperplate, 'Camelford.', with 'C. Catton R.A. del. F. Chesham Sculp.'

Autograph Letter in the third person to Buchan, regarding 'Mr. Pitt', 'his abilities and fortitude' and 'the dilemma' arising from 'the present situation'.

Author: 
Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford (1737-1793), politician and art collector [David Steuart Erskine, eleventh earl of Buchan (1742-1829), antiquary and reformer]
Publication details: 
8 February 1784; Oxford Street.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. On piece of watermarked laid paper. Thirteen lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with thin strip of stub adhering to blank reverse. Docketed at head, in a contemporary hand, '331 | Lord Camelford for fac simile'. Camelford was not at home when Buchan called, but he 'will take care that his Lordship's Letter shall be transmitted to Mr Pitt [his cousin William Pitt the younger?]'. Pitt 'will doubtless feel himself flatter'd with his Lordship's testimony in favour of his abilities and fortitude'.

Manuscript Leave or Licence of Absence, signed by King George II ('George R.'), and by William Pitt the Elder ('W Pitt').

Author: 
[Charles William Tonyn of University College, Oxford, 'Chaplain to the British Factory at Algier' [King's Chaplain at Algiers]; King George II; William Pitt the Elder (1708-1778), 1st Earl of Chatham
Publication details: 
20 June 1760; 'Given at Our Court at Kensington'.
£600.00

2 pp, on the first leaf of a bifolium of gilt-edged watermarked laid paper. Leaf dimensions 30 x 19 cm. Text clear and entire. On lightly aged, worn and creased paper. Slight spotting to reverse of first leaf. Vertical closed tear to second leaf, which is blank apart from docketing on reverse: 'Charles Tonin, Chaplain to the British Factory at Algier, Leave of Absence.' The king's signature is bold and clear, in the top left-hand corner of the first page, above the royal seal, which is embossed on a folded square of paper over red wax.

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