Prime

2pp., 12mo. On paper with mourning border. Headed by Gladstone 'Private'. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter concerns Lord FitzMaurice's motion of no confidence in the government, held in the House of Commons the following day. (The resolution, which had been introduced following British reversals in the Boer War, was defeated by 352 votes to 139.) Gladstone writes that he hopes that he was not 'too "stiff"' with Evans. 'The situation at the time was a bit acute, 70 men asking for that wh. I knew to be impossible.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, with slight spotting to extremities, laid down on leaf removed from autograph album. 'I am sorry that we have missed each other on the occasions you have called. My time is much occupied & it is difficult to fix an hour before 6 P.M.

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. On aged and lightly-creased paper. The letter, written while Gladstone's Liberals were in opposition to Benjamin Disraeli's Conservatives, begins: 'Mr.

Two pages and one page, 12mo, good condition. A. "I have received the Petition of the Liverpool Chemists' Association against some of the provisions of the Sale of Poisons Bill, and will present it without loss of time. As the Bill has been referred to a Select Committee to consider its provisions in detail, I shall move that your Petition be referred to the same Committee; and if you should be inclined to depute any of your body to come up and be examined in support of your objections, I do not think the Committee would refuse to hear him. In that case however you ought not to lose any time.

ALS, on House of Commons letterhead; 11 May 1923, 2pp., 12mo, fair condition. 'Some of my folks are mildly expostulating with me for reviewing for the Daily News on account of the hostility it is showing to us - perhaps rather by the way of depreciation than of attack, and perhaps it is not worth my while making trouble with them. So you might knock me off your list.' He hopes RL's wife 'will give me another chance of going to see you'.

One page, 12mo, good condition, except rust mark from paperclip (not present).. With regard to your enquiry about my husband's smoking, it is quite true that he has practically given it up now. The only thing he has now is an occasional pipe, but this is getting less and less frequent. | I have it very much on my mind that your enquiry regarding the late W.T. Stead was never answered. Do you still want my husband to help you in this matter? If so, I will see whether he could do so. | It was nice to hear from you again after all these years.

4to, 1 p. Nine lines. Text clear and complete. On bifolium of paper watermarked 'J WHATMAN | 1855'. Aged and lightly-stained. Reads 'I have the Honor to inform you that Parliament having been called to meet on Thursday the 3d of December Business of great Importance will then immediately be brought forward, and I trust that it may be consistent with your Convenience to attend in your Place in the House of Commons on that Day'. From the papers of James Wyld (1812-1887), cartographer and Member of Parliament for Bodmin.

One page, 12mo, faint marking and slightly grubby, text clear and complete. "I will be at No 10 Downing Street at 2. pm. on Tuesday, as kindly appointed by Mr. Balfour. I sent you the Slavery Memo this afternoon." Online biographies (Wikipedia and DNB) mention his activities indicating that he was anti-slavery (in the main!), but don't mention activity resulting in a Memo. According to the DNB disappointments in England drove him back to Africa in 1895. Perhaps this was it.

Complete envelope, 12.5 x 8 cm. With mourning border. Addressed on front: 'Immediate | Rt Hon. J. Moncrieff | MP - | [signed in bottom left-hand corner] W E Gladstone'. Docketed in close hand, lengthwise and downwards from top right-hand corner. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

One page, 12mo, good condition, Will you give me the pleasure of dining here on Tuesday, at 8? I have J. Morley [politician and writer] coming & one or two more.

8vo, 34 pp + blank last page. Unbound and stapled. Fair, with central vertical fold, on slightly-aged paper, with light staining to the first and last pages. Signed on the first page by [three Americans] Henry L. Stimson; Charles F. Adams III; Dwight W. Morrow; [one French] Aristide Briand; [two British] J. Ramsay Macdonald; A. V. Alexander; [one Italian] Giuseppe Sirianni; [and all four Japanese representatives] Reijiro Wakatsuki; Takeshi Takarabe; Tsuneo Matsudaira and Matsuzo Nagai.

Printed on one side of a piece of paper, 23.5 x 17.5 cm. In fair condition, on aged paper. Laid down on a gilt-edged leaf from an autograph album, 24 x 18.5 cm. Firm, bold signature ('Palmerston'), 6 cm long, in bottom right-hand corner. Authorising the payment of £24 15s 9d to 'Mr. George Ripking, Assistant Surgeon of the Third Regiment of Hussars of The King's German Legion [...] being the approved Balance due to him for the Contingent Hospital Expenses of the said Corps, from the 21st. June to the 24th. December 1812, both days inclusive'.

On one side of a piece of paper, an irregular rectangle cut from the front of a letter (10 cm x 13 cm at head and 16 cm at foot). On aged paper with pinholes from mounting. Small signature boxed in to the bottom left-hand corner by Waddington. Addressed to 'Fritz Cunliffe Owen Esqre | 4 Grafton Street | Piccadilly'. Owen's note, above the address, reads 'Dr. friend Leckie. Your sister may like to have this autogr. of the French ambassador Mr. Waddington as you know, a great French statesman - au revoir a Bologna on Sunday morning. Yours affect. [signed] Fritz Cunliffe Owen'.

The front cover of the envelope, 9.5 x 12 cm, cut away and laid down on a ruled piece of paper cut from an autograph album. A little grubby, but good. Reads 'L N Guillemard Esq | 11 Downing St. | [signed] W E Gladstone'. Signature approximately 4.5 cm long, and underlined.

16mo (leaf dimensions 11 x 9 cm), 2 pp. Bifolium. Reverse of second leaf addressed by Rogers 'For the Rt. Honl. Sir Robert Peel.' Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper, with a couple of spots of glue on second leaf from previous mounting on second leaf. Rogers writes 'to point out to Sir Robert Peel a slight inaccuracy in the printed forms respecting the Income Tax' ('middle of the third page of Schedule D'): the words 'sitting up' instead of 'setting up'.

ITEM ONE: Photograph of Gladstone, 14 x 10 cm, by Thomas Fall (1833-1900). In very good condition, laid down on the photographer's worn printed card, 16.5 x 11 cm. Showing Gladstone seated outdoors, with his grandson on his knee. NPG x22229 (the entry for which describes it as a 'carbon cabinet card', taken on 14 September 1881). ITEM TWO: Photograph of Gladstone, 14.5 x 10 cm, by Samuel Alexander Walker (1841-1922). Laid down on the photographer's printed card ('Portraits "At Home" A new Application of Photography introduced by Samuel A. Walker'), 16.5 x 11 cm.

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.'

On rectangle of paper roughly 9 x 17 cm. Cut from the head of a letter for an autograph hunter. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount on the reverse. Above the signature a florid five-line valediction in the best courtly style. Date and beginning of letter on reverse.

Six pages, 8vo, some edges dusty but mainly good condition. (1892) He can't leave the House of Commons at 5 o'clock. (March 1905) Thanks Hutton for a copy of the Proceedings at the Banquet of the British Cotton Growing Association, and for references in it to Balfour's contributions to the "movement". (Nov. 1905) Thanks for a copy of the Second Annual Report of the British Cotton Growing Association, and is pleased with the movement's progress. With: A memo (a pencilled note explains), on 13 Jan. 1903, "drawn up by McNiel & corrected by Mr Balfour".

12mo: 3 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper. Small spike hole through both leaves of the bifolium. Text clear and entire. Execrable hand. Begins 'I certainly shall not secede from my conditional Promise'. Paragraph describing the weather ('The Heat of the Weather here is intolerable.') 'I agree entirely with respect to the Character of our worthy departed friend. It is a great loss to this Part of the Country.'

Liberal Prime Minister (1809-98). One page, 12mo, the verso, with printed stamp, addressed in autograph to "Mr W. A. Dowding / 47 Mary Street / Bristol". "With compliments & best wishes, as well as thanks. W E Gladstone / Ap. 19. 80". Gladstone had just concluded his celebrated electioneering campaign involving speeches at stations between London and Edinburgh.

Prime Minister (1770-1827), signed “G.C.”, 2pp., 8vo, good. He acknowledges correspondence and asks for copies of the “Civil ListPapers laid upon the House of Commons this year” and those of last year.He could borrow these from a “Mr Backhouse” but would rather not“break in upon his set”.

Prime Minister. One page, 8vo, laid down on same sized paper: "Private. . . . My Dear sir/ Nothing has been heard at the Home Office respecting Hayward. He stands for [place name? indecipherable]. I this morning received the enclosed letter . . . Robert Peel". Hayward is probrably the prolific writer and Peelite, Abraham Hayward but I have no information on his running for Parliament although he was very political.

War Office Circular No. 121. One page, fol. Printed with manuscript additions. The document refers to "certain Fines, Penalties, and Forfeitures" which should be remitted to the Bank of England and placed to the account of "the Agent-Genral for the Local Militia". The addressee (Eyre) is to levy and remit, notifying Palmerston.

Two pages. Dimensions of paper fourteen and a half inches by nine inches. Aged and stained, with fraying to extremities and some loss to one corner (not affecting text). Order to 'deliver and pay of such his Majesty's Treasure as remains in your Charge unto John Earl of Dunmore or his Assigns the Sum of Two hundred and Fifty Pounds', on Dunmore's 'Annuity or yearly Pension of One Thousand Pounds as one of the Gentlemen of his Majesty's Bedchamber'. With signatures of 'Winnington', 'G Earle' and <?>. Docketed 'Mr. Yorke I pray pay this Order out of Addl.

TWO COPIES, both octavo: iv + 158 pages. Several collotype plates, several in red and gold. In original green printed Sotheby wraps. Both items sound internally, with some wear to the wraps. One item has extensive pencil annotations to the front wraps, and the other has a few ink marks to the reverse, with minor wear to the last couple of leaves. Both catalogues partially priced with some names by the London booksellers Myers & Co. of New Bond Street, one on the second day of the sale and the other on the fifth.

Printed on one side of a piece of blue card 9 x 11 cm. Good, with a little light spotting. Headed 'DISABLED PERSON', and made out to Miss L. Russell, with two dates and time of admission in manuscript on the reverse. A must for all Churchill completists.

12mo, 2 pp, 20 lines. Bifolium with mourning border. Text clear and entire, on lightly aged paper with a few stains. He is enclosing 'Mr. Gladstone's answer on the subject of the inscriptions [not present]' which he asks to be returned to him. 'I had no opportunity of submitting it to him till Sunday last, and as you see I lose no time in passing on his answer to you [...] I drew his attention specially to the question of the two languages as you desired me to do'. Asks to be remembered to 'Miss Hawtrey'.

Both items written in pencil and good, on lightly aged paper, with their stamped and postmarked envelopes addressed by Asquith. Both envelopes with traces of brown paper mount adhering to reverse, and both docketed by the Graphic's editor 'To me Harold Lawton'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pp, headed 'Private'): Amusingly outraged letter regarding a visit by 'two gentlemen' of whom Asquith 'had no sort of knowledge'. Graphic journalists, they assured Asquith 'that nothing wd. be written about me without my seeing it first [last five words underlined in red]'.

12mo, 1 p, 20 lines. On grey paper, good, with a line of light offsetting from another document on the blank reverse. He wanted to read the work he has been sent before writing to acknowledge its receipt. 'Je suis trop peu de chose pour qu'un compliment de moi vous soit sensible'. He awaits the reprint with impatience, and regrets not having received a copy sooner. As for the introduction, he does not see how it could be changed. 'Ce que vous y dites sera toujours vrai et est aussi nouveau qu'il y a 19 ans'. The form is what one would expect 'd'un littérateur'.