SIR

1p., 16mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper, laid down on card backing removed from an album. He writes that he only received Ballantyne's letter on his return from Melville Castle (seat of Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville), where he was 'obliged to go for a day'. He is now returning 'sheets P. & Q to press and will soon send copy'. He has been 'pleased with a note from Cadell that we had a Pisgah peep of <?>'. The letter ends with the Latin tag: 'post tot discrimina rerum' ('after many dangers').?>

On 3.5 x 9.5 cm piece of paper cut from letter. In good condition, with gum from mount on blank reverse. Reads: '[...] your list? - Believe me | Ever & respectfully yours | J. P. Nichol | Sir David Brooks'.

[Two items] 6pp., 12mo. A nicely-printed keepsake, stitched into green card covers, with 'SIR THOMAS PHILLIPPS | 1792-1872' in gilt on front. In very good condition. Oval window in cover revealing a profile portrait of Phillipps, which is printed in colour and tipped-in onto the first recto, which is bordered in brown. Text in brown, with title-page reading: 'Stationers' Hall | Phillipps Centenary Dinner | 4th July 1972 | Chairman | The Rt. Hon. Viscount Eccles | P.C.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Attached by one corner to a leaf from an autograph album. 23 lines of text in a difficult hand. He thanks him for his 'notice in L<?>, & for the long & valuable as well as kind & flattering notice of my Novels'. He considers that the review is 'written with great talent - & is altogether the best of the kind notices of these works which I can remember to have seen'. He invites him down to Knebworth and asks whether he has 'succeeded with Lord Malm[esbur]y'.

1p., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with tiny stain in margin. He thanks him for his letter, and invites him to 'call again' at 'this enchanting place'. He has 'finished Octave 5' and is 'at work now on another Ben Nevis story'. He has asked his publishers Chatto & Windus to send him 'Octave 3'. A letterhead with Mackenzie's Edinburgh address is printed upside down on the reverse.

1p., 12mo. In very good condition, lightly aged. Laid down on leaf removed from album. Reads: 'My Dear Faed/ | Will you take a quiet dinner with me on Tuesday next the 24th. 1/4 before 7 - and meet our friend MacNee - to say nothing of obliging | Yours faithfully | David Roberts'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, the blank reverse of the second leaf laid down on card backing removed from autograph album. Writing of his trip to London to take part in the vote at the Royal Academy he writes: 'I had two inducements to come up - you & Marochetti [the Italian sculptor Carlo Marochetti, elected at the same time] - & for either I would have come up separately - not from private friendship - although that existed in both cases - but from a sense of duty & the advantage of the Academy of which I doubt not you will very soon be a full member'.

The first two items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The third in fair condition, aged and worn. ONE: Typed Letter Signed (over a penny tax stamp) by 'W Senior' and 'R B Marston', announcing their resignation as trustees, to be replaced by Walter Durfee Coggeshall, William Milner Ratcliff, and John Assheton Rennie'. 1p., 4to. Manuscript postscript. With a 'certified copy of the resolution of the General Meeting of Members by which the above appointments were made'. 1p., 4to. Signed by Major-General Desmond O'Callaghan and the secretary.

16pp., 8vo. With three plates, at the foot of the first of which someone (the recipient?) has written 'a modern pastiche'. In fair condition, lightly grubby and creased. Inscribed by Keynes at head of first page: 'Tim Munby | from the author'. Uncommon: four copies on COPAC.

The four items in good condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. ONE: TLS by Spicer, 31 December 1943. 4pp., 12mo. With a couple of minor autograph emendations. A long and wide-ranging letter, discussing the aims of the group (in response to Item Three below). Topics include: 'intellectuals in the Group', whether it is 'disuniting the Party', 'the future of the Party', 'going into opposition', 'the position of the Liberal Party at the next General Election, or at the conclusion of the European War', and whether Radical Action is 'pin-pricking the Parliamentary Party'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, neatly folded twice. With worn envelope addressed to 'Christopher White Esq'. Reads: 'Dear Christopher | This is to introduce Duncan Grant, who would like to look at some drawings in the print room. I hope that you will be able to give him whatever assistance he may require. | Yours | Quentin'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Addressed to 'Dear Sir & Brother'. He had been hoping to see him 'at the consecration of our Tenbury Lodge. I begged Brother Barber to invite you, & I think I told you we would put you up here on that occasion'. He hopes he will come 'at some future lodge night when we have got into work'. He informs him that he has that day 'received a notice of the Royal Arch Chapter' the following Thursday, adding 'I see I am to be ballotted for, & if elected to be exalted'.

1p., folio. Good, on a lightly-aged piece of ruled paper. In two columns, with the left-hand column, written out by Roberts with his address at the foot, headed 'Name of Exhibition', and listing twelve international exhibitions between 1862 (Amsterdam) and 1898 (Brussels). The right-hand column, headed 'Picture Exhibition', carries Alma-Tadema's responses, some of which are written in darker ink than others, indicating that they were added at more than one point. Alongside 'Paris (EU) 1867' he writes '13 pictures amongst them.

380pp., 4to. Carbon copies on rectos of numbered leaves. Preceded by an eleven-leaf thumb index (not complete). In original brown leather half-binding, marbled boards and endpapers. Internally sound and tight, in heavily-worn binding lacking spine. At the heart of the correspondence are eight letters to the artist with whom Lowenstam is most of all associated, Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema. These date from the 1890s, and are all addressed to 'My dear Tadema'.

1p., 16mo. Bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Docketted on reverse of second leaf 'Sir H Bishop June 17th/46' (17 June 1846 was a Wednesday, so probably a mistake for the previous day). He is much obliged by her 'kind thought, in sending me a Ticket for you Concert', but it is uncertain whether he will be in London at that time, 'but I wish you, most sincerely, every success'.

2pp., 12mo. Written in a small close and neat hand. In good condition, on lightly aged paper.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. He is sorry that the recipient has 'taken so much trouble respecting my portrait. I never have sat for my picture, and must resquest you will excuse my doing so now'.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Aged with with some damp staining. Geikie is glad to receive Cadell's letter, and will be 'delighted to have you on the long excursion if it takes place [last four words underlined]'. The excursion is however in doubt, as 'only five members of the Class have sent in their names and one with some doubt'. There are 'many calls' on his time, and unless more names come in the excursion will be cancelled. The letter concludes: 'I am disappointed with the want of enthusiasm of this year's Class.

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. On aged paper, with light staining and wear at foot. The letter concerns the question of whether the Duke of Buccleugh or Sir Laurence Dundas is to be Governor of the Royal Bank. In his view there are no other candidates, and he hopes 'our Friend George Fairholme will not go astray upon that question'. Knowing that Fairholme is 'particularly attached to Lord Marchmont', he has written to him, and quotes part of the 'flattering' reply he has received.

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. On aged and worn paper. He writes that he had 'heard the Report propagated by Sir John of your having given different accounts to the Father & the son', but considering the source he did not believe it, and 'the excerpts of Letters' directly refute it. 'I am extremely pleased with Lord Polwarth's Letter to you & as to any thing else I think you have no reason to feel any regret'.

On 1 x 7.5 cm strip of paper cut from letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Close cropped and with some text on reverse.

On 3 x 5 cm piece of paper. Cut from letter and with some text on reverse. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads 'Very faithfully | Jos D Hooker'.

3 + [1]pp., 12mo. Bifoliate pamphlet. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Evans's book on 'The Shaft Graves and Bee-hive Tombs of Mycenae' had been published by Macmillans in 1929, and Evans writes that the present item 'has been prepared in view of the considered opinion concerning the author's important discovery expressed by Professor Friedrich von Duhn, the distinguished German archaeologist, a little before his death'. This opinion of Duhn ('the "Grand Old Man" of German Archaeology') was 'addressed to the Author a little before his death'.

The two prospectuses are uniform in design, and are both stapled pamphlets of 8pp., 4to, on shiny art paper. The second is in fair condition, lightly aged and worn, and the first is heavily worn, with the outer bifolium detached; both have rusted staples. The first has a two-page 'Summary of the Preface' and the second two pages of 'Extracts from Preface'. Both have two pages of contents, and two specimen pages, with the opinions of the press on the back page.

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. He explains his 'great and chief excuse' for breaking his promise to call on her that morning. 'The fact is I have to give an address on Monday evening as President of the Society of Chemical Industry'.

Both items in good condition, with minor signs of age and wear. The black and white photographic print is 24.5 x 19.5 cm, and depicts a chubby Hall, in shirtsleeves and tie, leaning over a seat at the back of a darkened theatre, with a positive look of concentration on his face, as he stares at the stage, a playscript in his hand. The reverse carries two stamps by 'Tony Armstrong Jones, one of them declaring his copyright. Also on the reverse are pencil calculations of dimensions for cropping for publication.

Printed on one side of a piece of 4to paper, with thick embossed decorative border in imitation of lace. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper, with closed tears to frail border. Royal crest at head printed in gold and other colours and also embossed. Headed: 'BUCKINGHAM PALACE. | MONDAY EVENING, 16th. JUNE, 1879.' Fourteen pieces are listed, by Mendelssohn, Liszt, Wagner (2), Gounod (2), Bizet, Max Bruch, Rossini (2), Ambroise Thomas, Massenet, Schumann and Cimarosa. Apart from Patti, Kellogg and Trebelli, the performers are 'Herr Henschel', 'Mr. W. H.

The first two are addressed to Ross, 'of Rochester by Greenlaw', and the third to him 'of Shandwick by Parkhill | Rossshire'. Each letter with postmark in red ink. ONE: Letter of 6 November 1797. 3pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and worn.

On 5 x 17.5 cm strip cut from the end of a letter. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'With kind regards | Yours sincerely | Victor Horsley | J. Davidson E. MD. &c.'

51 + [1]pp., 12mo. Stapled, in printed brown wraps. Internally in fair condition, on aged paper; in worn and spotted wraps. A six-page preface, dated 'Trinity College, Cambridge, | 26th July, 1907.', begins: 'Many years ago I printed and circulated privately a set of questions on the manners and customs of savages designed to elicit information on the subject from persons who live or travel among uncivilised races. The present set of questions is a revised and enlarged edition of that work.