POLITICS

Part of a letter, cut away for an autograph collector, roughly 5.5 x 10.5 cm. The recto carries the franked address, trimmed close, reading 'London July twenty 1835. | Roundell Palmer Esq | Mixbury | Birmingham [corrected in another hand to 'Magdalen Colle | Oxford'], signed in bottom left-hand corner 'W E Gladstone'.

4to, 1 p. On cream paper with letterhead printed in green. Fair, on lightly spotted and creased paper. She cannot make an appointment for an interview 'for various reasons [...] The chief reason being that I do not give interviews'. Owston-Booth was a contributor to the Windsor Magazine.

8vo: 32 pp. Pamphlet. Bound in modern marbled boards with paper label. Fair, on aged paper with top outer corner of last few leaves slightly dogeared and with reverse of last leaf a little grubby. An important speech, another edition of which exists, published by Ridgway in 1848. A reply by John Towne Danson was also published by Ridgway in 1848, going through two editions.

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'.

4to: 6 pp + [ii]. Disbound. On aged spotted paper with slight chipping and loss to extremities. Text clear and complete. Report, in small type. Inscribed by Meredith at head of first page: 'Read by Hugh Meredith, M.A. before the British Association at York. 1906.' Scarce: no copy in the British Library and the only copy on COPAC at Oxford.

12mo: xiv + 32 pp. In original grey printed wraps. Internally sound and tight on aged paper. Wraps worn and grubby, with slight staining to spine. Eight copies on COPAC, but only three at deposit libraries (Oxford, NLS and the BL).

The nature of this somewhat Pooterish 'scandal' is explained in one of the cuttings in the scrapbook: '[...] the Unionists of North Lambeth are making secret but strenuous efforts to insure the return of Mr. H. M. Stanley at the next election.

4to, 4 pp. Sixty-six lines of text. Clear and complete. Fair, on grubby and lightly-worn paper. At the time of writing Ormsby-Gore was still a commoner, sitting in the House of Commons as Member for Denbigh. Headed 'Private'. Gore considers that 'both sides in politics have been doing their best to confuse the issue'. He begins by stating his position: 'The broad ground on which I stand is that a Liberal Government cannot, either on grounds of policy or of principle, refuse the demand of the Welsh Representatives for the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales.

12mo, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. In fair condition, worn and a little grubby. He thanks him for having 'written so fully'. He will 'wait for a day or two ere looking far', as he is 'rather exercised in my mind on one or two parts'. 'I remember - or try to remember - this injunction - 'do nothing rashly'. He is sending 'some lines' by 'Sir John Kenaway - a sound old evangelical Tory', 'in favor of Sunday closing in Monmouthshire'.

8vo: 1 p. 7 lines of text. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with the address on the reverse of the second leaf of the bifolium, to which Verney's red wax seal adheres. A graceful letter of thanks. 'It gives me no small satisfaction to think that my general Conduct has hitherto merited your approbation.' Informs Tonyn of the date of the general election. Verney would lose his seat, and with it his immunity from prosecution for debt, forcing him to flee to France.

Good, firm signature, boldly underlined, on piece of paper roughly 4 x 11.5 cm. Thin strip of glue from previous mounting to the right of the signature, and further traces on the reverse. Evidently collected by an autograph hunter. Simply reads 'George Canning.'

4to, 4 pp. Bifolium pamphlet. Text clear and complete. On aged paper, with closed tears along the central horizontal crease. Printed in small type in double column.

4to, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. Thirty-seven lines of text. He finds himself 'very much in accord' with the views expressed by Walters in his address on 'The New Religion'. His 'chief difference' is 'a dislike to the use of the word "Religion." It has, to me, associations that are certain to rob it of all good.' As a 'working term', in Cohen's view, it lacks 'satisfactory power'. 'However, the great thing seems to me to keep churches & individuals on the move.

8vo, 2 pp. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is 'sorry' that Harlech has 'left the Colonial Office, upon which you have produced such a profound and salutary effect'. From the point of view of the I.L.O.

On piece of laid paper (roughly 8.5 x 17 cm) cut from letter. Aged and discoloured, with one 3 cm vertical closed tear (not affecting text). Slight loss to final flourish underneath signature. The text and signature are in different hands. Reads '<...> our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty, in the first year of Our reig | By His Majesty's Command, | [signed] Ellenborough'. On the reverse: '<...> the Faith, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.

12mo, 2 pp. On first leaf of a bifolium. Text clear and complete. On slightly grubby, aged and lightly-creased paper. As they are '[i]n the midst of the Elections, which we shall not finally get rid of till, perhaps, the middle of December', he is 'quite unable' to do as Price wishes. 'I could not condense what ought to be condensed, without a good deal of reference & reading taking time - which is scarcest of articles with me, at the moment'. The subject of recent biographies by J. N. Greaves ('The Last of the Railway Kings', 2008) and D. J.

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper. Blank second leaf of bifolium bearing traces of previous mount. He is obligedfor the 'kind invitation to meet Maeterlinck. It will give me great pleasure to lunch with you at the National Liberal Club on Tuesday at 12.30.'

On a piece of card roughly 9 x 11.5 cm. With embossed government crest of the Board of Education in the top left-hand corner. In fair condition, lightly-aged and with small triangular areas of discoloration to two opposing corners caused by previous mounting. Good bold signature, presumably sent in response to a request for an autograph. Reads '[signed] Walter Runciman. | 6 March | 1911.'

12mo, 1 p. Written in Laski's distinctive close hand. Fair, on aged paper, with a little spotting and two tiny pinholes in top left-hand corner. He has enjoyed reading Grinling's pamphlet (possibly 'Fifty Years of Pioneer Work in Woolwich') but, as 'Memory is by definition a traitor', Grinling's 'name doesn't "place" itself' for Laski. 'But you will possibly care one day to come and remind me; at any rate you will be sure of a welcome.'

8vo. 94 pages. 2 pages facsimile of an electoral handbill. One fold-out plate. In poor condition. Damp stained, and in remains of repaired grey printed wraps. Paper browning. 'Printed by J. Rochford O'Driscoll, Printer, Dagmar House, Lowestoft.' The case for the plaintiff, Harry Seymour Foster, was led by the celebrated F. E. Smith (Later Earl of Birkenhead). The defendant was Edward (later Sir Edward) Beauchamp. The main cause of what the judge in summing-up described as 'a political action' was a letter by 'FISHERMAN' (i.e.

On one side of a foolscap (32.5 x 20 cm) page. Eighteen lines. On aged and foxed paper with chipping at head and foot. Chamberlain was Rector between 1925 and 1928.

8vo: 80 pp, paginated 13-92. Stapled. In original grey printed wraps. Clear and complete. On aged and spotted high-acidity paper, with rusting from staples. In worn and spotted wraps. 2 cm closed tears to back wrap and outer margins of last two leaves. Pencil note on inside of back cover that a copy of the same item sold by Hodgkins for £30 in March 1986. From the collection of the Scottish anarchist author H. T. Derrett, and with his ownership inscription and date on front wrap. Illustrated.

Good, bold signature on slip of laid paper (presumably cut from letter) roughly 3.5 x 11.5 cm. In good condition. Simply reads 'Beatrice Webb'.

12mo, 15 pp. Stitched as issued. Text clear and complete on aged, worn and foxed paper. Can be dated from references in text, and from quotation on title from 'Arthur Arnold, M.P.' (Arnold's career in the House of Commons ending in 1885). Carries a few contemporary marks in light pencil, and a column in shorthand on the blank reverse of the last leaf. Excessively scarce: no copy in the British Library, on COPAC or on WorldCat.

The calendar proper (clear and complete on aged paper) consists of 12 unpaginated 8vo pages, with photographs and some facsimiles of handwriting on the rectos and the calendar itself, with memorable radical dates, on the versos. Photographs of Edward Bellamy, 'Principal Writers of "The Clarion" ', Tom Mann, William Morris, and Alfred Russel [sic] Wallace, and Count Leo Tolstoy. The calendar is encased in a loose 8vo bifolium, with four unpaginated printed pages. It is titled 'The Labour Annual Calendar: 1896. Edited by Joseph Edwards'.

On both sides of a piece of wove paper, dimensions 21.5 x 14 cm. On browned high-acidity paper, lightly creased and with closed tears to the margins. Text clear and complete. Begins 'One of the best and most effective statements of the farmer's case against Protection was that made by Mr. Legh, of Adlington Hall, one of the oldest Conservative landowners in Cheshire, at a Free Trade meeting at Adlington.' The headings are 'About Butter', 'About Cheese', 'About Corn', 'About Pigs' and 'About the Farmer's Bill'.

Part of a letter, 11 x 5.5cm, stained but surviving text clear,as follows: (recto) "of the Athenaeum [Club] for a period of two months. | J.E. Webster Esq.". (verso) I have the honor to be, | Sir, | Your obedient servant, | Charles Sumner."

Both items printed on one side of a piece of cheap wove paper. Both items aged and lightly creased, but with text clear and entire. Item One (23 x 12.5 cm): Headed 'Sudbury Election.

One one side of a piece of laid paper, roughly 21 x 13 cm. Clear and complete on aged and spotted paper. A couple of manuscript emendations, in a contemporary hand: 'I'm' in the text expanded to 'I am' for the sake of scansion, and 'like' in the text changed to 'likes' for the sake of grammar. Sixteen-line poem arranged in four stanzas.

8vo: 8 pp. Unbound. Stabbed as issued. Very good, on rough-edged wove paper. The seven-page advertisement, signed in type by Cobbett, is succeeded by a page headed 'New Books, published by COBBETT and MORGAN'. (Eight titles are listed.) The advertisement is a personal address from Cobbett, the second paragraph casting valuable light on his motives and intentions: 'When I first undertook the Register, I was fully persuaded, that the plan, which, indeed, I had long thought of, was well calculated to ensure a wide circulation, and to produce an extensive as well as a lasting effect.