POET

1p., 4to. Bifolium, addressed by Alison on reverse of second leaf to 'The | Lady Charlotte Campbell | D<?>cks Hotel'. Good, on aged paper, with label at head in a contemporary hand attributing the letter to Alison, who was seventeen at the time of writing, but already at Edinburgh University. Docketed by Campbell 'from Mr. Alison | recevd Edinh. | March Seven 1809'. An interesting letter, casting light on the reading practices of the upper classes in Georgian Scotland. Alison's conceit is that he is writing a letter of introduction for a real person.

1p., 4to. Bifolium. Addressed, with broken seal in red wax, on reverse of second leaf to 'Sir Foster Cunliffe Bar - | Acton | Wrexham'. Chester postmark dated 27 April [1821?]. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He is enclosing 'the Blackburnian poem which arrived this morning by the Carrier -' (the poem is not present). The second paragraph reads: 'Classical Rats are voracious - they read with a vengeance - yet I hope that the breach is not beyond the powers of reparation'. From the papers of John Blackburne, through the antiquary Dr James Kendrick.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on aged and worn paper. The letter reads: 'Dear Prof. Candy, | I think you would wish to see enclosed which please return after perusal. | If you hear of anything kindly let me know. It is the most pressing difficulty we have and we see no present way of surmounting it. | With renewed thanks, | always sincerely yours, | Mackenzie Bell'.

Note: 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, lightly-aged, laid down on paper with traces of glue to one margin. In response to a request for an autograph it reads: 'Novr 10/69 | 21 Beauvoir St | Portland Place | London. W. | Dear Sir | I send this in accordance with your request to Mr Lacy.' | I am | Dear Sir | Yours | R. H. Holden Esqre'. Engraving: On 14 x 10.5 cm paper, laid down within border on 21 x 14 cm paper. Good: Photogravure 11 x 8 cm image cut from a magazine. Showing a bearded Horne in old age, with velvet writing cap.

The two documents were originally attached along a perforated line, and both bear the serial number 115476. Having been detached, they have been reattached by a strip of light brown paper. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Both are forms, printed in red and black, and both are filled in by Coulson, regarding a deposit by Kipling of '£500 (Five hundred pounds) Grand Trunk Pacific Branch Lines Co. First Mortgage Sterling Bonds' and '$2500 (Two thousand five hundred dollars) Northern New Brunswick & Seaboard Rly Co. 4% Gold Bonds'.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In worn envelope, with stamp and postmark, addressed by Buchanan to 'J. T. Baron Esq | 18 Griffin Street | Witton | Blackburn | Lancashire'. Both letter and envelope have thick mourning borders, Buchanan's wife having died the previous November. The letter reads: 'Dear Sir, | The works you mention, with the exception of "Idyls of Invention," are just now out of print. The plays have never been pubd. | Thanking you for your kind expressions I am | Yrs truly | Robt Buchanan'.

One page, 17.5 x 12cm, 8 lines, heavy grey paper, corner smudged, good condition. Title "Thought". "Give me thought - glorious thought [...] | To the sight of a flower; | Though it trembles and shrinks | From the touch of its thorn." Note: She was not known for her verse.

12pp., in original buff wraps, with 'EIGHT POEMS' in red on front cover. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with rusty staples. A nice production, With the name 'Robert Lynd' added in manuscript, probably by Bax himself, in a space provided on the title for such personalisation. Uncommon: the only copies on COPAC at the British Library, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh and Cambridge.

8pp., on eight leaves of foolscap 8vo, with a ninth leaf carrying the title (headed 'Library' in manuscript). Fair, on aged and creased paper. The first page carries four entries, all beginning in 'A', from W. P. Alison's 'Remarks on the Poor Laws etc of Scotland, 1844' to a total of 54 volumes of the Annual Register. The four items are attributed the lot numbers 1, 3, 2 and 4 in manuscript. The second page carries seven items beginning with 'B' (ending with 'Border Laws 1705.'), with the first and second given lot numbers in manuscript.

Item One: From Havengrove. On reverse of printed 12mo prospectus for the first issue of 'Poetry Folios' magazine (which appeared in 1942), edited by Comfort and Peter Wells. 1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged and creased paper. He thanks him for his letter. 'It is appreciation of this kind that makes one want to go on writing. [...] I wish I could meet you.' Item Two: From Havengrove, on letterhead of 'Poetry Folios'. Undated. 2pp., 12mo. Fair, on lightly-creased and aged paper.

Each of the thirty poems ends with the typed name 'Louis How'. The collection is in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with each poem printed on one side of a 4to leaf. There is no record of any of the thirty being published. Six of the poems have minor manuscript emendations, and several include minor corrections in type. A prolific poet, in 1915 How was grouped with Amy Lowell and Ezra Pound in an article by Zoe Akins in Reedy's Mirror (published in his native St. Louis).

The engraving, which is not in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, is on a piece of 19 x 14 cm paper, with tissue guard. The image measures around 8 cm square, and shows Landor's head in profile, looking to the left, with 'A. D'Orsay' beneath to the left, and 'H. W. Smith' beneath to the right. In good condition, lightly-aged, with small stain to one edge of border. Attached to a piece of paper, along with the piece of Landor's autograph, which is on a 1 x 18.5 cm strip of grey paper cut from a letter, and is in fair condition, lightly-creased.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In stamped and postmarked envelope, addressed in the same hand to 'J. Y. [sic] Baron Esq. | 48, Griffin Street, | Tritton | Blackburn'. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in slightly discoloured envelope. It is not known who acted as Marston's amanuensis after the death of his sister Cicely in 1878: the present letter is written in a neat and somewhat childish hand. It dates from what had been an extremely trying year for Marston, with Rossetti dying the previous April, and the dying James Thomson being carried from Marston's rooms two months later.

One, Stansfield; 3 May 1922. Thanking RL for his praise of his new poetry book. 'I have as you may know been away on a tramp steamer [...] I am as yet a barbarian, unregenerate in literary matters, or I feel I should have much else from your pen to thank you for'. Two, Stansfield nr Clare, Suffolk; 1 July 'not 1916!' [i.e. 1922] Referring to 'the award & its lucky receiver' (i.e. Blunden). Three, Stansfield; 5 July 1922. Announcing the completion of a 'paper on Shelley' mentioned in the first letter. Four, Hawstead nr Bury St Edmunds; 19 June 1930.

1p., landscape 16mo (8.5 x 13 cm). Good, on aged paper, with blank second leaf of bifolium bearing evidence of previous mounting. The poem is neatly written out, in a sensitive hand, and is eight lines long: 'Fairyland! Fairyland! | That must be a pleasant spot: | Silver rippled over the strand, | Murmurs in each cave & grot, | Jewelled fruits upon the trees, | Music floating on the air, | Perfumes breathing on the breeze -, | How I wish that I was there! | [signed] Julia S. H. Pardoe'.

1p., 12mo. On bifolium. Good, on aged paper. The note reads: 'Mr Landor has to acknowledge the honor of Lord Londesborough's invitation for May 21. The crowded state of London will not permit him to make his usual visit there in Spring, and among his regrets is his inability to pay his respects to Lord Londesborough.'

1p., 16mo. In good condition, on aged paper, neatly laid down on a paper mount. Written in a bold hand with an attractive signature. The note reads: 'Woodbridge | 2/6/1847 | My dear Sir | I scribble this to accompany the two copies of the Memorial referr'd to in my other note of this date. | Thine in haste | [signed] B Barton'.

Four pages, 12mo, small closed tear, darkened edges, text clear and complete. She apologises for bothering him with "the accompanying little volume" ["Poems" published this year, 1846] , explaining that Rogers was a friend of her "dear & lamented" father's youth.

1p., 16mo. Fair, on aged paper, laid down on piece of card. '1349' in blue pencil at head of page. The letter reads: 'Thank you for the cheque. He ought to have paid for two, as both appeared in November. | - | Yes, I have another copy of . | - | [signed] M. Hewlett'.

1p., 12mo. Fair, on aged paper, with slight wear and loss at head. The leaf has been trimmed down to 21 x 16 cm., with rounded corners, around the poem's decorative border. The poem consists of 96 lines, in twelve eight-line stanzas; it is arranged in two columns beneath the title: 'ON THE WING. | BY JOHN LAWTON.' First stanza reads: 'I wor thinkin one neet wol sit i mi cheer, | Wot thowts enter sum people's pates; | Wot useful invenshuns they'n plan'd everywheer | To benefit people un states.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. On the first leaf of a bifolium, with the second blank leaf carrying traces of glue from mount. The note reads: 'May /85 | Lord Tennyson begs to thank the Lord Chamberlain for the honour of the invitation on June 6th. He regrets that he is unable to avail himself of it.'

2pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged grey paper, with slight chipping at one corner. The letter accompanies a copy of an unnamed play, which Phillips hopes will interest Greenwood. 'I will stand or fall by it. I have learnt so much from your criticism (more indeed than from any one) that I should hope that you might continue possibly that line of such sane and helpful criticism which I have learned to look for from "the onlooker".' He concludes by declaring that there is no one to whom he is sending the book 'with greater pleasure'.

Nicely printed on laid paper, on sheet folded to make a bifolium, with the facsimile of the letter on the reverse of the first leaf, and the photograph of Bridges facing it on the recto of the second. As he is unable 'to write personal thanks to each of the many friends who contributed to honour my 80th birthday by their lovely gift', he asks them to accept the photograph 'as a memento'. 'Apart fr.

One page, 12mo, good condition. "With many thanks for the excellent account of the cremation of Marjory Kennedy Fraser in 'The Oban Times' June 25th 1932 | Dorothy Una Ratcliffe | Laverton Grange | Kirby Malgeard | Ripon, Yorkshire."

Two pages, 12mo, remnants from being tipped on to album page, , staining, text clear and complete. "I feel myself compelled, circumstanced as I ma - to decline all invitation. Were it otherwise I should with great pleasure avail myself of yours - | My friends are answering for themselves - & I am very sorry it will be in the negative - but as they have declined similar invitations from the persons who have paid them the same kind attention, they cannot with propriety make exceptions..."

On blue card, with stamp and postmark. Bridges's message is complete, but the postcard has been trimmed to 14 x 5 cm, with the lower part of the card, carrying O'Toole's address, missing. Otherwise good, on lightly-aged paper. The message reads: '14. Merton St. | Dear Sir. I am writing to apologise for never having answered your letter of Feb. 29th. I have been too much engaged to be able to attend to my correspondents. I beg that you will excuse me. Yours truly | [signed] R Bridges.'

Items Two to Four are in good condition, on aged paper; with Item One worn and creased, repaired with strips of white paper. Items Three and Four are attached to one another by a stub, and all four items show evidence of having been removed from a letterbook. Items One and Four are statements describing Lady Nairne's financial affairs, with Items Two and Three letters to Spring Rice and the Civil List committee on the matter, the first anonymous and the second by Lady Nairne's solicitor John Mackenzie Lindsay, Writer to the Signet.

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Docketed in a neat hand at head of second page. Binyon writes that he cannot be with her on the Friday, as he has to 'go down to Winchester on business. And I am so driven I don't know where to turn.' He has 'had Huxley's Barren Leaves in the house for days', but hasn't 'had one moment to look at it'. He has 'managed to read [J. R.

4pp., 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. 36 lines of text. Good, on aged paper. She fears she has appeared 'most ungracious & unthankful' for not acknowledging his 'kind present of two very pretty and useful books'. She hope he will excuse her, as she 'received them in the country, whither I had gone to recover from a sharp illness'. Since her return 'the dangerous illness of a dear friend' has left her with 'neither thought nor leisure'. She will read the books carefully, and as she meditates 'a neighbourly visit to my good friends Mr & Mrs Cunningham I hope to meet you'.

Handbill, four pages, 8vo, bifolium, minor staining, mainly good condition. The item has introductory remarks on the verses, presumably manuscript, being sent by Keate with a gift, reminding readers of Keate's work on the Pellew Islands and patronage of Lee Bow (another Marcellus). These are followed by 34 lines of verse, offereing support and help, with complimentary phrases. It commences, "'Tis not, I readily confess, | My virgin hue or silv'ry dress" , concluding, "My last drop will flow for you.