SIR

The ten items in good condition on lightly-aged paper, and with the texts clear and complete. The four letters all bearing the stamp of the Royal Society, and the six notes unstamped. In the first letter he declines to read a paper before the Society. In the second letter (29 October 1929, in autograph) he states that Menzies' 'suggestion that I should become a member of the Royal Society of Arts is put in such a way that I cannot do otherwise than fall in with it!' He is afraid that he 'may disappoint your Council if they think I can fill Sir Thomas Hollands place adequately'.

All eight letters in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Seven carrying the Society's stamp. The correspondence relates to a Howard Lecture by Fearnsides before the Society on 30 April and 7 May 1917.

All three items fair, on aged and creased paper. Slight rust-spotting at head of note, and short closed tear to leaf of calculations. Note (12mo, 1 p): He is enclosing 'a few figures' and hopes they are what Dingle wants. The calculations (4to, 2 pp) begin with working out of the 'Annual coal production in world' in therms. This is followed by similar figures for 'Petroleum' and 'Natural gas', giving the 'Total fuel (bar wood and peat) used per annum in the world'.

A quarto volume, bound in padded green leather stamped in gilt on the front cover with the words 'Visitors' Book'. Patterned endpapers. Tight, on lightly aged and spotted paper. Binding heavily worn, with outer corners of front cover dogeared and torn to show padding. Five leaves with one dogeared corner. Note (in Davies' hand?) on flyleaf: 'Visitors book. | General Sir F. J. Davies | General Officer Commanding-in-Chief | Scottish Command | 27 Drumsheugh Gardens | Edinburgh'. Each page with printed columns for the 'date' and 'name and address'.

The six items good, on aged paper, with the copies of Luckhurst's letters lightly creased. Item One: Copy of Luckhurst to Wilson. 5 October 1948. 4to, 1 p. Asking whether Wilson 'would honour the Society by consenting to deliver the third [Cantor] lecture for which the title "Music - and the Audience" is suggested. [...] the first lecture in the series will be given on March 22nd by Mr. Benjamin Britten, and the second on March 29th by Sir Malcolm Sargent.' Gives details of arrangements and fee. Item Two: Wilson to Luckhurst. Typed Leter Signed. 8 October 1948. 12mo, 1 p.

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. On grey paper. Text clear and complete. Good, with one minor stain not affecting text. Two punch holes at head through both leaves. He congratulates her 'on the success of yr. most clever little play!', and wishes she 'had been there to see it, we had to add a little here and there to fill it out for a big stage [...] it went wonderfully well and the notices are fine!' Proposes, with her permission, to do it again 'at a Lyceum matinee Joe Hurst'. Ends by informing her that 'Mr. Mellish was simply fine.'

4to, 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged laid paper, with small area torn away from top corner (not affecting text). Docketed at head in an Edwardian hand: 'From Lieutt Genl. Sir William Knollys to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on the occasion of the Prince of Wales' marriage | Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales [Edward VII]'.

Folio (34 x 21 cm): 32 pp. With all eighteen foldout plans. Unbound and stapled. Text and plans clear and complete. In fair condition, with slight rust to staples and the last leaf (carrying Plan XVIII) loose. The report is addressed to 'The Honorable the Premier of the Colony of Victoria', and dated 'University of Melbourne, 2nd November, 1891. This is, as Allen sets out his aims in the first paragraph, explaining that he is submitting 'the Third and Final General Report concerning my visit to Great Britain and the Continent of Europe.

Both cards plain with printed stamp and 9 x 11 cm. Both bearing the Society's oval purple stamp. Card One: He is 'leaving town on business for two or three days' and so cannot attend the meeting of the Indian Section Committee. Card Two: He will 'with pleasure support Abney if in town', but may not be there on the day.

All seven items 4to, 1 p. Each good, on lightly-aged paper. All bearing the Society's stamp, and six docketed. Letter Two to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Three to Six to G. K. Menzies, and Seven to W. Perry. Letter One: 9 July 1914. Querying whether members of the Society can describe themselves as 'Fellows'. Letter Two: 22 March 1916. Being 'unable to get an earlier passage [to America] owing to cancellation of boats', he will be delighted to preside over a meeting.

4to, 3 pp. 42 lines of text. Good, on aged paper. He is sorry not to have known about Niggeman's bank holiday visit to Hatfield House: 'it would have been an immense pleasure to us all to see you. Do come down and pay us a private call some other time.' The 'points' she makes 'are just the kind of thing we want to know'. Salisbury did not 'go round the Hosue with the visitors, for I did not wish to embarrass the guides; but clearly there is a good deal more organisation needed before our machinery works smoothly'.

Hope had returned to the Foreign Office from Tehran in May 1907, but had moved to the Washington Embassy, as second secretary, that October. The recipient is presumably one of the ten children of the Tory politician A. J. B. Beresford Hope (1820-1887). Letter One: 12mo, 8 pp. Very good on lightly-aged paper. Addressed to 'My dear Beresford Hope'. A teasing, friendly letter, intresting for the information it provides on the situation of a minor attaché in Edwardian Washington.

Letter: 12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Good, on aged paper, with small rust stain at head from paperclip. She is writing to Harmsworth ('President, Dr Johnson's House') to ask him to accept a copy of 'my Journal in which mention is made of my Portrait of Dr Samuel Johnson which hangs in the Garrett of Dr Samuel Johnson house this was presented by H. B. Wheatley whom I knew for many years.' On a visit to the curator of Johnson's house she was 'pleased to see the picture still hands in its original place'.

8vo, 12 pp. Stapled pamphlet. Text clear and complete. On aged, worn and spotted paper. A total of 204 lots. Pencil notes to lots 4, 9 and 11, with slip indicating their purchase prices, totalling £10 12s 0d. Lot 179 ('Another Property') is given prominence: 'FRANCIS COTES, R.A. A PORTRAIT OF A LADY in White Dress with Green Sash and Pink Cloak, her hair dressed high and adorned with pearls, 3.4 length | 50in. x 40in. | Signed and dated 1788.' No copy in the British Library, on COPAC or WorldCat.

8vo: 32 pp. In original printed wraps, with photograph on front cover captioned 'Lord Murray, Sir Rufus Isaacs, and Mr. Lloyd George at Cap Martin.' Text clear and complete. On aged paper, in worn wraps. Inscription 'C. B. Harmsworth by JNP[?]k' on back. Scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC in the London School of Economics.

Finely printed on one side of a piece of good wove paper, 52.5 x 41.5 cm. Very good. Around two hundred names arranged in two columns, beginning with 'Dr. John Abercrombie, First Physician to the Queen for Scotland, in Edinburgh', and ending with 'John Young, Merchant in Aberdeen - His Representatives'. Directors and Extraordinary Directors are distinguished by marks prefixed to their names. According to one authority the Bank's demise was occasioned by the 'Large advances [which] were being made to firms in which the directors of the bank also had an interest.

On a rectangular slip of paper, roughly 12 x 4.5 cm, neatly torn from a legal document. Good, on lightly aged paper. A firm signature, with parts of other signatures close by on either side. The document, in another hand, reads '<...>re Shillings & foure <...> | <...> the Moneye arisein <...> | <...>f Parliament for <...> | <...> Order thereunto <...> | <...>ise according to the <...> | <...> id Act Dated at th<...> |

4to, 2 pp. Very good. Small ink tick at head of first page (not affecting text).

Written in green ink on one side of a piece of watermarked paper roughly 20 x 12.5 cm. Nineteen lines of text. Fair, on lightly-aged paper with a couple of pin holes. Heavily stylised signature with long gap between the 'O' and 'f' of 'Ofori'. He thanks him for the letter, and is 'very pleased to welcome you to Ryebi [capital of Akem]'. He was 'awfully delighted to hear that Mr. Myerstein has completely recovered from his recent serious illness' and is pleased to learn that they are 'starting work on the reef very shortly'.

12mo, 2 pp. Twenty-eight lines of text. Good, on lightly-creased paper. Lockhart's signature has been docketed in ink (by Aitken?) 'Sir Robert'. A letter of condolence on the death of Aitken's father. Reminisces about the 'moment I came into his life', a 'luncheon at Charkley' soon after the First World War: 'The only other guest was Augustus John. [...] as you know, I learnt much from him. Indeed, it was he who taught me how to write, and in his house I met numerous people whom, but for him, I should never have known.' He considers that Beaverbrook treated him 'nobly'.

12mo, 3 pp. Good, on lightly-aged paper with small light stain to one edge. He has 'been laid up since the party with what appeared to be much the same brand of whopping cough as that indulged in by my children by the present moment!' He is 'shaking it off now' and is 'delighted to hear that your district has achieved the amount aimed at', and is pleased to have 'helped in a small degree towards it'. Written a few months after North's return home in disgrace, after allowing a French squadron pass the Strait of Gibraltar without harrassment in September 1940.

4to, 1 p. On aged, worn paper with small area of loss at head (not affecting text). He will be 'pleased to act on the Committee to judge of the stories for filming', and is glad that 'the work will not be onerous'. In a postscript gives the version of his name he wishes given for announcing ('Right Hon. Sir Gilbert Parker Bt.'). According to his entry in the Oxford DNB, no fewer than sixteen of Parker's novels were filmed. As head of British propaganda in America, 1914-1916, Parker had a direct involvement with the medium.

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Attractive red letterhead, in the Arts and Crafts style. The writings she referred to in a previous letter have not come. 'You probably forgot to enclose them. I expect to read some of the papers in the days when I look in the P[all]. M[all]. G[azette].' He asks her to give him 'an idea of what the publisher proposes to spend on the illustrations, and also the size of them, and the style - pen & ink, or "wash".' He has heard news of her 'from Welsh, Ethel Johnson's husband, who is with me at the Haymarket'.

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.'

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.

Letter One (12 September 1887): 12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. On aged paper with a little wear to extremities. He has read in the paper that 'Aberdeen & some Gladstonian M.P's are going to deliver Home Rule Addresses in Crieff on 27th. Sept.' and thinks that 'the Liberal Unionists ought to be very active in Scotland' during the autumn. If it is 'of any service' to Currie or 'to the cause' Camperdown is 'ready to make a speech in Crieff on any night you like'.

The greater part of this collection consists of the responses of the British actor-manager Sir George Alexander (1858-1918) - best known as the first producer of Wilde's 'Importance of being Earnest' and 'Lady Windermere's Fan' - and his representatives to the requests of the scrapbook's compiler, Harry E. King. Twenty-eight leaf quarto scrap book, in which twelve leaves have been used. Items in good condition, with occasional spotting and fading. Album itself, on discoloured, high-acidity paper, in poor condition: binding loose and worn, with damage to spine.

12mo, 1 p. In a bifolium, addressed and docketed on the reverse of the second leaf, to which the red wax seal adheres, in good condition with a clear impression of Agar-Ellis's monogram. Fair, on aged and grubby paper. If Jerdan has 'quite done' with Agar-Ellis's copy of 'G<?>'s improvements of London' asks if he will allow Agar-Ellis's 'messanger' to return it. 'If however you still wish to keep it, pray do.' Agar-Ellis has 'promised to lend it to Sir H Halford'.

A piece of laid paper, 7 x 20 cm, cut from a letter by an autograph collector. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with some staining on the reverse from the glue used in mounting the item. Reads '<...> of 15 Nov next, or by the following steamer on Dec: 3d. | I have the honor to be | Sir | Your most obedient servant, | E Perry | Supreme Court, Bombay | May 1st. 1852.' On the reverse: '<...> year, and whether a warrant under the sign manual may not be directed to <...>'.

On a piece of paper, 2 x 8 cm, cut from a letter. Neatly laid down on a piece of paper, 4 x 9 cm. Good, on aged paper. The signature reads 'Maurice OConnell'. In a contemporary hand, on the mount, 'Maurice O'Connell. MP. | (nephew of King Dan)'. According to the Oxford DNB, Daniel O'Connell ('The Liberator') was a cousin of Maurice's father Sir Maurice Charles Philip O'Connell (1768-1848).