SIR

2pp., 4to. Bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with one minor damp stain. Dundas was the last ever British minister to be impeached. He was acquitted of corruption charges on 12 June 1806.

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He writes that he has brought Miss Smith Dampier's play 'A Great Gentleman' up to London with him, and that it will be at Melrose's office in the afternoon. 'I have read it - but I do not like it as well as The Queen's Minister, from my own point of view, I mean. | The writing, of course, is what one would expect after reading Miss Smith Dampier's former play - but I had got a long way into the story before it gripped me'. He names the only two scenes which he sees 'vividly'.

2pp., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The paper appears to have an 1890s watermark, and the correspondence may relate to the publication of Huggins's 'Atlas of representative Stellar Spectra', printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney for William Wesley & Son in 1899. Apparently impressed by the speed of Viney's response to his last letter, Huggins begins 'Your lightning is treble-greased.' He is returning the corrected proof, and sent 'a new copy with your name written on, by this morning's post as yr.

3pp., 12mo. Fair, on aged and worn paper. Wilde explains that he had previously written regarding the case, but 'by some accident the Letter has been mislaid (I believe) among my mass of papers, and I therefore fear it may not have reached you as I cannot learn who among the Servants dispatched it'.

3pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper with a thin strip of glue in gutter from previous mounting. Lankester complains that he has 'not received a copy of Mr. Sedgwick's translation of Claus' Handbook of Zoology'. He has 'a large number of students (annually over 60) at University College' to whom he would recommend the book if he had it. 'I should wish to be able to place it on the lecture table for them to see.' He claims that it is 'usual for publishers to enable teachers to do this kind of thing - by sending them copies of works likely to be recommended'.

2pp., 12mo. Closely and neatly written. 45 lines of text. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. An interesting item, pulling together several strands of nineteenth-century Anglo-American literature. Having received a letter from his daughter telling him that George Ticknor (1791-1871) of Boston was 'desirous of knowing who was the author of an article in the Edinburgh Review on a work of Mr Prescott', Horner has written to the publisher 'Mr Longman as the most likely person to give or get me the information'.

15pp., 4to. On four bifoliums, neatly attached white thread. Good, on lightly-aged paper. A fine long letter, marvellously spirited and gossippy, to either one of the Marchioness's two sisters Theophila ('Offy') or Elizabeth. A large part of the letter is concerned with 'an account of the Drawing Room & the Ball'.

6pp., 4to. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with slight traces of previous mounting. Gurwood has delayed sending 'a history of our proceedings', as Sir Charles wrote the day after the party's arrival in Lisbon. He describes their 'disagreeable passage', 'which Sir Charles and Lord Marcus treated with contempt, and were most provokingly well all the passage - we were however unanimous as to the impossibility of your having accompanied us for the inconvenience of a crowded ship, where all are more or less selfish, are really too great for a female passenger, whatever may be her rank'.

2pp., 12mo. 33 lines of text, written in a close, neat hand. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She begins with a five-line 'encomium', before assuring Mrs Drysdale that she is 'pretty safe': 'I have been considered By People of the Highest Rank to whom I was known merely as a private teacher &c &c of moral virtues To possess of <?> for the highest talents & the purest Virtues I have been familiar I need not say why. None of these I ever flattered.

Poem: On one side of a piece of 12mo paper. Fair, lightly-aged and a little ruckled, with traces of gum from previous mounting on the blank reverse. The 12-line poem is written in heroic couplets, and begins 'POOR, faithful animal, adieu! - | To Nature's kind affection true, | For fourteen years, thy grateful heart, | Devoted, play'd its humble part.' At the end a contemporary hand has ascribed the poem to 'B. B.', and the same hand gives the date as 'September 3d'.

Printed on one side of a 4to leaf, to which a black mourning border has been given by hand. Well printed on wove paper. Fair, on lightly-aged and ruckled paper. The author's name is not given, and the title reads 'SONNET | ON THE LATE | DUTCHESS [sic] OF GORDON.' The poem begins: 'IS then the bright expansive spirit flown, | That wont to animate the admiring throng? | Does the fair theme of many a poet's Song | Exist in pleasing memory alone?' The poem was also printed in 'The Poetical Register, and Repository of Fugitive Poetry, for 1810-1811' (London: F. C. and J.

On one side of a piece of paper approximately 18.5 x 6.5 cm, neatly cut from a letter. Laid down on a piece of 22.5 x 28 cm paper, and with a border drawn around it. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'We have been most kindly & hospitably received by every body & I find such a variety of character & even of incident (of a political kind) that I rejoice exceedingly at having come here in the first instance. We still propose leaving this on the 1st. of Feby., Charleston on the 1st. of March, & New Orleans on the 1st.

Galitzin's letter: 1 p, 4to. 13 lines. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper with a few pinholes to one corner. Signed 'Georges Galitzin'. He writes regarding the course of action to be taken if, 'par un hasard qelconque ou par conviction M. Tey [i.e. Gye] se refusait a me ceder son theatre pour le concert que je veux donner au profit de la souscription Garibaldi'. The draft of Gye's reply is 1 p, 12mo, docketed on the reverse 'Monsieur le Prince Gaelzin [sic] | 52 Porchester Terrace Bayswater' | June 1 1860'. It is written in French in the third person. 11 lines.

ONE. Letter, signed 'Wm Brown'. 3 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 25 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is 'greatly disappointed' that, '[h]aving gone to the expense of building the Hall of Inventions & Science', 'the five Learned Societies' that 'induced' him 'to make that addition to the Library, have taken no effectual means to make it available for the purpose intended'. Brown 'promised £100 towards the fittings', and is sending a cheque for that amount.

3 pp, folio. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Supporting the application of 'Surgeon [Charles] Lowdell, Officiating Agency Surgeon Baghelkhund, [sic] applying for the Acting Appointment of Medical Officer in Charge Bhopal Battalion in the event of a vacancy occurring in October next'. Lowdell is holding his current post while Surgeon Goldsmith is on furlough, and on his return will be without an appointment. 'His duties in connection with the special charge of the young Maharaja have been difficult and have required the exercise of tact and patience.

Letter: 4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 36 lines. Text clear and complete. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. He addresses him 'as Provisional Secretary to the Abbotsford Subscription Committee', to inform him that he has instructed his bankers in Newcastle to transmit forty pounds from his account to bankers in the Strand, 'to be added to the Abbotsford Fund - being the Amount collected in small sums between 1.£ & 1.s. by Mrs. Liddell in the town of Alnwick & vicinity'. She will forward a book of subscribers' names to the Committee.

1 p, 4to. Trimmed at top, causing slight loss to first word ('Sir'), otherwise good, on lightly-aged paper, with one short closed tear. Regarding a series of publications he was purchasing, begins 'Sir | I am very sorry indeed to find that No's 11 & 12 are wanting - No 13. is among the lot. | The rest are | No 1, 2, 12, Old Series - | [...]'. There follows a column listing volumes in the 'New Series'.

2 pp, 12mo. 18 lines. Text clear and complete. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Ernest'. The news that Gye has been posted to Damascus is 'exciting', although 'it will be funny & deserted - like to come home & not find you at the seat of custom'. Gye had spoken of going abroad, so he was not surprised, '& Lady Armstrong said recently that you were about to seek another field'. Regarding Gye's painting, he 'will have lots of interesting things to limn (that's a good word)'.

8 pp, 12mo. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'Dear Ernest'. He begins by congratulating Gye on his promotion and 'on going to Tangier - a delightful spot'. It is however 'very sad' that Gye's 'guiding hand over our destinies will no longer be there in the Office'. He thanks Gye for his 'kindness' and 'sympathy': 'My path has lain along uneventful ways and it has been an untold solace to feel you did not despise those who had mearly [sic] to 'stand & wait''.

10 pp, 12mo. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Ernest'. The Wellesleys have been back from India a couple of months. The journey out was a 'delightful trip', despite a mishap with a 'steel hawser' which 'wound itself round the screw' in the middle of the Mediterranean. After a brief reference to Ceylon he describes the Indian visit. His wife tripped up on a step in front of the Maharaja of Mysore: 'I feel sure he thought she was tight. Mysore is too modern & up to date to suit me, but Seringapatam only nine miles away is fascinating.

Totalling 68 pp, comprising 50 pp, 12mo; 18 pp, 4to. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Two signed 'W. A. Smart' and the others 'WAS.' All addressed to 'My dear Ernest'. Written in a spirited, chatty, and (for a diplomat) surprisingly indiscreet style, of which the beginning of the second letter (Salonica; 19 August 1919), concerning the appointment of Victor Vincent Cusden (1893-1980), gives a good example: 'Were you not content with condemning me to physical and financial ruin in this death-trap? Why, to add to my afflictions, did you send me this pathetic shop-boy?

8vo, 14 pp (followed by blank leaf). Unbound and stitched. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Drophead title. With 'PRIVATE' in print in the top left-hand corner of the first page, and '[285]' in the bottom left-hand corner. Dated in type at end 'T. H. S. | October 1891.' Sanderson's inscription, at the head of the first page, reads 'From the Author | [signed] S | Sept. 1918'. From the collection of Sir Victor Wellesley, and with two marginal notes by him.

4 pp, 12mo. Bifolium. 51 lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. The General Committe have asked Besant to thank the recipient for his 'kind assistance during the last year, and to express their hopes that your sympathy with the objects which they have at heart will still continue'.

1 p, 4to. On a bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf: 'Thursday at 11 O'Clock | Chas. Westmacott, Esqr., | 5, Clements Inn.' Fair, on creased and aged paper. Christie's note reads 'Mr Christie presents his Compts. to Mr. Westmacott. | with Mr. Westmacott's permission, the bearer of this Mr. Christie's warehouseman, will remove the Pictures to King St. | King St, | Monday Feb. 14 | 1825.' Beneath this, in another hand, Recd 69 Pictures | [signed] John Biddle'. Above Biddle's receipt, in a third hand, are the word 'Received' and 'Recd 69 [i.e. Christie & Manson?]' in pencil.

4 pp, 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The unnamed recipient appears to have been named as executor in a prvevious will of Sir Henry Bishop. Opens in dramatic style: 'I was very greatly surprised to receive a letter from you this morning, dated from Brighton, as my poor Brother, Sir Henry Bishop, had not the slightest idea that you were still an inhabitant of this world, having heard of your death some time since, in consequence of which, he made another will similar to the one in your possession, but changing the executors'.

12mo, 3 pp. On bifolium. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She has 'finished the brown drawing of elves, & birds singing', and, as she is going into the country for a few days, will leave it, 'in a portfolio', at Stratton St. She asks him to 'kindly take care of it', as he has been 'good enough to do with the others. It is, as you know, a very careful & highly-finished drawing'. She asks him to have 'the delicacy of the lines reproduced, & the drawing of the limbs of the little elves, etc. very carefully & exactly rendered, otherwise the drawing wd.

12mo, 4 pp. 61 lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. An impressive letter applying for work. He does not expect Massingham (addressed as 'W. H. Massingham') to remember their meeting 'in the Lobby' when he was 'chief reporter on The Sun', while at the same time holding 'a Parliamentary engagement on the staff of the C. N.' Gives details of his subsequent employment, including joining the editorial staff of the 'Manchester Guardian' ('principally to look after their weekly paper which was in a sad way.

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. 37 lines. Text of letter clear and complete, but with damage to head of letter, causing loss to date, with traces of the album leaf to which the letter was attached on reverses. Otherwise good, on lightly-aged paper. He thanks him for his 'friendly congratulation', and has now entered his '81st. year under the most favourable conditions'. He is 'truly thankful that my affectionate Partner and Myself have through a long life been so mercifully dealt with'.

12mo, 2 pp. 22 lines. Text clear and complete. Begins by explaining his reasons for not supporting Humberstone in an unspecified election. Humberstone has 'valiantly' supported 'the cause for Research at the Universities', and his 'knowledge of University affairs' is 'profound', but 'after a time new minds have to have their turn!' He remembers a paper of Twort's 'on airborn infection problems' which interested him 'much'. 'I know he was an original investigator, but somehow he seems to have got across people in his line of work. I don't propose to go in for Biological Warfare!

12mo, 2 pp. Nineteen lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper. Thanking him for his 'excellent book on University Reform in London': 'I read it carefully when it came out and was much impressed by your clear statement of the problem and the thoughtful discussion of possible solutions'. He will now prize his own copy, as it is 'a really important contribution to a subject which has naturally interested me for the past 18 years'.