SIR

warning: Creating default object from empty value in /home/richardf/public_html/dev/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.pages.inc on line 33.

Detailed pen drawing captioned 'Hill's Organ at Birmingham'. Signature of Sir Oliver Lodge on reverse.

Author: 
Hugh Clayson [William Hill's Organ, Birmingham Town Hall; Sir Oliver Lodge (1851-1940)]
Publication details: 
Signed 'Hugh Clayson. Dec. '08'.
£60.00

On a piece of yellow paper, 18 x 23.5 cm, removed from an autograph album. Dimensions of image 12.5 x 17.5 cm, neatly enclosed within a border. Good, on aged paper discoloured at extremities of margin. An accurate and detailed drawing of the organ in its setting on the balcony, with ceiling above and the surrounding steps, columns and alcoves.

The Royal Society. Sir William Huggins, K.C.B., O.M., D.C.L., President. Conversazione. June 19th, 1903.

Author: 
[Sir William Huggins, President of the Royal Society; Conversazione, 1903]
Publication details: 
[1903.] Burlington House. [Harrison & Sons, Printers in Ordinary to His Majesty, St. Martin's Lane.]
£75.00

8vo, 24 pp. Stitched as issued. Well printed on good laid paper. Creased and aged. A programme, describing, often in detail, the forty-six exhibits, in the various rooms, from 'Photographs illustrative of the Coronation Naval Review, 1902' by Dr W. J. S. Lockyer, to 'Examples illustrating the Scientific and Educational Applications of the Bioscope.' Exhibitors include Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crookes, Rutherford and Soddy ('The condensation of the radio-active emanations of radium and thorium by liquid air.') and the Solar Physics Observatory, South Kensington.

Signed Autograph Manuscript testimonial ('Philip Gibbs') on behalf of G. K. Chesterton's candidacy for the Rectorship of the University of Glasgow.

Author: 
Sir Philip Gibbs [Sir Philip Armand Hamilton Gibbs] (1877-1962), writer and journalist [G. K. Chesterton; Glasgow University]
Publication details: 
Undated [1925].
£45.00

8vo: 2 pp. Fifty lines. Text clear and complete, on two pieces of aged and spotted paper, with rust spots from paperclip. Untitled. Begins: 'I should like to see Chesterton as Lord Rector of a university which stands for Liberal thought. Some people, limited in imagination and hostile to unconventional character, would as soon give their votes to a modern Don Quixote who by some miracle has acquired the corporeal structure of his own Sancho Panza.

Signed Typescript ('Austen Chamberlain'), an address of thanks for his re-election as Rector of the University of Glasgow.

Author: 
Sir Austen Chamberlain [Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain] (1863-1937), English politician, Rector of the University of Glasgow
Publication details: 
Geneva, Sept. 14. 1926.'
£75.00

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.

Manuscript order, signed by Bickerton ('R Bickerton') and Hulbert ('Jno. Se. Hulbert'), directing Bathurst, as Captain of HMS Fame, to proceed to Chatham, to be paid off.

Author: 
Sir Richard Bickerton [Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton (1759-1832), English Admiral; Walter Bathurst (1764?-1827), naval officer; John George Hulbert; J. S. Hulbert; Royal Navy; naval and maritime]
Publication details: 
Given onboard [sic] the Prince at Spithead, 11th. Septr: 1814'.
£280.00

One page, on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium (leaf dimensions 32 x 20 cm). 14 lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and somewhat grubby laid paper with Britannia and 'GATER | 1811' watermarks). Chipping and wear at head and extremities. Printed at head: 'By Sir RICHARD BICKERTON, Bart. Admiral of the White, Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels at Spithead, and in Portsmouth Harbour, and on the Guernsey Station.' Written in a secretarial hand and signed by Bickerton and, 'By Command of the Admiral', by Hulbert.

The Art of Poetry, Written in French by The Sieur de Boileau. In Four Canto's. Made English By Sir William Soames, Since Revis'd by John Dryden, Esq;

Author: 
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux; Sir William Soames; John Dryden; Henry Hills junior, London printer
Publication details: 
London: Printed and Sold by H. Hills, in Black-fryars near the Water-side. 1710.
£400.00

12mo: 40 pp. Disbound. Good, on lightly aged paper. Contemporary ownership inscription of 'William Francklyn" on title-page. This edition is scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at Liverpool.

Printed circular order, signed by Troubridge, Adams, Garthshore and Marsden, and docketed 'Order from the Lords Comm[issioner]s. of the Adm[iralt]y. to take on destroy all ships & vessels belonging to the Batavian Republic - 16 June 1803.'

Author: 
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty [Sir Thomas Troubridge, James Adams and William Garthshore] [William Marsden, First Secretary to the Admiralty; Royal Navy; Batavian Republic; Holland; 1803]
Publication details: 
16 June 1803. [The Admiralty, London.]
£450.00

Printed on one side of a piece of laid paper roughly 31 x 19.5 cm. 21 lines. Clear and complete on lightly-aged laid paper with Britannia watermark. Headed 'By the Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.' and addressed 'To The respective Admirals, Captains, Commanders, and Commanding Officers of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels.' Signed by 'J. Troubridge', 'Jas. Adams', 'W Garthshore' and ('By Command of their Lordships') by 'Wm Marsden'.

Typed Letter Signed to Rev. J. W. Thompson, "Brockenhurst", Birmingham Road, Walsall, Staffs.

Author: 
Philip Unwin, cousin of Sir Stanley Unwin (1884-1968) [George Allen & Unwin Ltd, publishers; Sir Stanley Unwin]
Publication details: 
20 August 1931; on letterhead of George Allen & Unwin Ltd, Publishers and Exporters.
£45.00

4to, 2 pp. Thirty-two lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. A tactful letter in response to an enquiry concerning the possibility of employment as a translator of Dutch publications. Unwins 'very seldom have occasion to translate from Dutch, but we should always be glad to give consideration to any important Dutch book which you were able to bring to our attention'. He suggests times when Thompson might be able to meet Stanley Unwin, who is travelling on the continent.

Business communication on partly printed form, regarding the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta.

Author: 
Williams & Norgate, London booksellers [Sir John Philippart (1784-1875); The Asiatic Society of Calcutta]
Publication details: 
30 May 1870; on letterhead of 14, Henrietta-Street, Covent Garden ('Also at 20, South Frederick-Street, Edinburgh.').
£28.00

12mo (21 x 13 cm), 1 p. On green paper. Clear and complete. On aged, creased and grubby paper. Reads (manuscript text in square brackets): Messrs. Williams & Norgate present their compliments to [Sir John Philippart] and beg to inform [him that the Asiatic Socy Calcutta send them the Journal, as it is published to be forwarded to him, if he does not require it, W & N will return the numbers to Calcutta'. Docketed in a contemporary hand at head: '10 packets returned 31st May 1870'.

Autograph Card Signed ('T Fisher Unwin') to Thursfield.

Author: 
T. Fisher Unwin [Thomas Fisher Unwin] (1848-1935), London publisher [Sir James Richard Thursfield (1840-1923), naval historian]
Publication details: 
13 February 1895. Letterhead: 'Office of the "Century Magazine." From T. Fisher Unwin, Publisher, 11, Paternoster Buildings, London, E.C.'
£28.00

Dimensions of card roughly 7.5 x 12 cm. Ten lines. Cream card with letterhead, stamp and other matter printed in brown. Lightly aged but good. Addressed to 'J. R. Thursfield, Esq. | Fryth | Great Berkhamstead [sic]'. Letterhead and text of letter at right angles to the address on the other side. Informing Thursfield that Jusserand's 'Literary History of the English People' ('a copy of which you have received') will be published on 20 February 1895, 'and that notices may appear on or after that date'.

Autograph Note Signed ('D. Lysons.') to unnamed publisher.

Author: 
Sir Daniel Lysons (1816-1898), English army officer
Publication details: 
11 January 1893; on letterhead of 22 Warwick Square, London S.W.
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Large bold signature. He has 'no present intention of publishing any book on [his] career'. It may be that the correspondence planted a seed, as three years after the writing of this note Lysons published 'Early Reminiscences' (John Murray, 1896).

Autograph Signatures of Colburn, Shee, North and Colnaghi, removed from Artists' Benevolent Fund application.

Author: 
Henry Colburn (1784-1855), bookseller and publisher; Sir Martin Arthur Shee (1769-1850), President of the Royal Academy; Peter North; Dominic Colnaghi (1790-1879), printseller
Publication details: 
1841
£28.00

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 8 x 12.5 cm. Good, lightly aged. Reads ' Henry Colburn | 13 Gt Marlborough Street | Martin Arthur Shee | Peter North 22 Soho Square | Dominic Colnaghi'. Fragment of docketed manuscript record of the case on the reverse: '<...> 830 | <...>nes O'Connor | <...>ent Case | <...>y 12th. 1841'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Henry Newbolt') to Routledge.

Author: 
Sir Henry Newbolt (1862-1938), English poet [George Routledge & Sons, publishers]
Publication details: 
13 October 1906; on letterhead of 23, Earl's Terrace, Kensington, W.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Thanking them for the cheque, and returning the 'form of permission to reprint the four poems, signed' (not present).

Autograph Signature ('F. Palgrave') on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Sir Francis Palgrave (1788-1861) [born Francis Ephraim Cohen], English historian and antiquary, best-known for his poetry anthology 'The Golden Treasury'.
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

On piece of grey wove paper cut into a rough rectangle, 5 x 8 cm. Good, but with light traces of glue from previous mounting on reverse. Reads '<...> | I have honour to remain | Dear Sir | Yr obt. & hble. Servt | F. Palgrave', with the flourish to the 't' of 'Servt' forming the top horizontal stroke to the 'F.' in Palgrave's signature. Reverse reads '<...> | In conformity <...> | my letter to you <...> | July last, I requir<...> | my name may be <...>'.

Typed Letter Signed ('V.G.') to Daniel George.

Author: 
Sir Victor Gollancz (1893-1967), London publisher [Hilary Rubinstein; Daniel George]
Publication details: 
21 September 1955; on letterhead of Victor Gollancz, Ltd.
£56.00

4to, 2 pp. Postscript ends abruptly ('I have read innumerable books on Italy, <...>'), suggesting a page lacking. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. An interesting letter shedding light on Gollancz's attitude to the practice of sending out advance copies of books for review. Addressed to 'My dear Daniel'. Further to a report he has received from 'Hilary' (his nephew Hilary Rubinstein) regarding a conversation with George 'at John Coates's party', Gollancz assures him that there is no 'personal reason' why he is no longer receiving 'a stream of advance copies'.

Autograph Letter in the third person to the publishers Swan Sonnenschein & Co.

Author: 
Sir Charles Hallé [born in Germany as Carl Halle] (1819-1895), English conductor and pianist
Publication details: 
30 June 1890; Sydney, Australia.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Twelve lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. A formal letter in the third person. He has 'received with surprise the enclosed invoice. [not present] He has given no orders for any copies of the work & must therefore decline to accept the parcel, should it have been sent out to him in Australia.' If it is 'lying at his London house' he will forward it to the firm 'on his return home'.

Four Autograph Letters Signed (all 'C. H. Firth') to Messrs George Routledge and Sons, relating to revisions of his editions of the Newcastle's and Hutchinson's lives.

Author: 
Sir Charles Harding Firth [C. H. Firth] (1857-1936), Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford, 1904-1925 [George Routledge (1812-1888, publisher]
Publication details: 
2, 4 and 25 January, and 1 November, 1906. All on letterhead of 2 Northmoor Road, Oxford.
£56.00

All four items 12mo bifoliums; the first of three pages and the other three of four. Text of all four clear and complete. Good on aged and lightly-creased paper. Minor water staining at head of first leaf of first item. Letter One (28 lines): Discussing the delivery of 'the alterations & additions' of the two lives, and the correction of the proofs by Routledge's reader. 'I shall of course require some payment for my revision of the two books, & you have not said anything on this head.

Two Deeds Indented (Indentures), relating to the purchase by Guy of various Yorkshire estates, and the sale by him of the same to Sir Cyril Wyche.

Author: 
Henry Guy (bap.1631 d.1711) of Tring, politician and courtier [Yorkshire topography; Sir Cyril Wyche; Richard Lightfoot; Francis, Lord Hawley; Sir Charles Harbord; Sir William Howard; Sir John Talbot]
Publication details: 
Indentures of 18 July 1672 and 11 March 1674; receipt of 12 August 1672; particular of 18 July 1672.
£450.00

INDENTURE OF 1672: 'ex[ecute]d. by Rich: Lighfoot Clerk to ye Trustees', on one side each of two large vellum skins. Wear at folds, affecting the occasional word or phrase. Docketed on grubby reverse of first skin. Borders in red, and with attractive hand-drawn Royal Crest within large initial at head. 'Betwene the right honourable ffrancis Lord Hawley Sr. Charles Harbord Knight his majesties Surveyor generall Sr. William Howard of Tandridge in the County of Surrey Knight Sr.

Autograph Note Signed ('G O Trevelyan') to the publisher Alexander Macmillan

Author: 
Sir George Otto Trevelyan (1838-1928), politician and author [Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896), publisher]
Publication details: 
Undated [after 1864]; Wallington, Newcastle.
£25.00

12mo, 1 p. Four lines of text. Good, on aged paper with watermarked date '<...>864'. 'If the "Macaulays" have not gone yet, would you send them here, directed to me.' Trevelyan was nephew of the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, of whom he published a biography in 1880.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Helps') to his publisher Alexander Macmillan.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Helps (1813-1875), author and Clerk of the Privy Council [Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896), publisher]
Publication details: 
16 January 1867; no place.
£20.00

12mo, 2 pp. 9 lines of text. With mourning border. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is glad that Macmillan and 'Mr Doulton' are coming to dine with him, but sorry that they 'will be obliged to leave so soon; but it cannot be helped'.

Printed circular letter from Auchinleck 'To all officers whether belonging to the Staff or to the Services who are working in Headquarter Offices in this Command'. Consisting of a celebrated (and spurious) quotation from Wellington, and two cartoons.

Author: 
Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, Commander in Chief, Middle East Command [Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington; military history; Second World War; British Army]
Publication details: 
01/05/42
£75.00

A celebrated and scarce piece of Second World War ephemera. Printed on one side of a piece of paper 33.5 x 21.5 cm. Text and illustrations clear and complete. In good overall condition, on lightly-aged and creased paper with small damp stain to top left-hand corner and repair on reverse to small closed tear. The text consists of a supposed 'Extract from a letter written by The Duke of Wellington from Spain, about 1810.

Presentation copy of offprint of article: 'Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near East: A Review Article'.

Author: 
Theodor H. Gaster [Theodor Herzl Gaster (1906-1992)], Anglo-American anthropologist, an authority in the field of comparative religion [Sir James Frazer]
Publication details: 
Copyright 1945 by Columbia University Press | Reprinted from THE REVIEW OF RELIGION March, 1945'.
£56.00

8vo: 15 pp, paginated 267-281, In grey printed wraps. Inscribed by Gaster on front cover: 'With kindest regards | T. H. G.' Good, on lightly-aged paper, in grubby and lightly creased wraps.

Day to Day Pamphlets No. 34. Economic Policies and Peace. Merttens Lecture, 1936.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Salter, K.C.B.
Publication details: 
1936. Published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 52 Tavistock Square, London, W.C.
£38.00

12mo: 38 pp. In original red printed wraps. Internally good and tight, on lightly-aged paper. Wraps worn and dulled with creasing at head and small tear at head of spine.

The True Principal of Population; Trade, Profits, Wages, Employment, and the Land Laws.

Author: 
T. R.' [population; land reform; Sir Robert Arthur Arnold; Manchester radical politics; economics]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1880 and 1885]. Manchester: Abel Heywood and Son, 56 & 58, Oldham Street.
£200.00

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.

Typed 'Research Defence Society' document, urging the British Home Secretary Herbert J. Gladstone to issue the Report of the Royal Commission on Experiments on Animals, with the signatures of the twenty-three signatories.

Author: 
Research Defence Society [Herbert J. Gladstone; Sir Frederick Treves; Sir Edwin Ray Lankester; Sir Savile Crossley; Lascelles; Rothschild; vivisection; Royal Commission on Experiments on Animals]
Publication details: 
20 May 1909. 70 Harley Street, London.
£180.00

Foolscap bifolium (leaf dimensions roughly 32 x 20 cm): 3 pp. The letter itself is of fifteen lines, on the recto of the first leaf, with five signatures beneath it and the other eighteen on the following two pages. On aged and lightly-creased paper, with chipping to extremities and traces of glue from previous mounting on the blank reverse of the second leaf. A central vertical crease has been strengthened with a thin strip of archival tape. Founded in 1908 by Stephen Paget to defend the use of animals in scientific experimentation, the Research Defence Society is still in existence.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jacob Wolff') to his solicitor Richard Combes, transcribing a letter to him from his brother-in-law Charles Weston.

Author: 
Sir Jacob Wolff (c.1739-1809), Bart, of Chumleigh in Devon, and Baron of the Holy Roman Empire [Richard Combes; Charles Weston; Rt Hon. Edward Weston (1703-1770) of Somerby Hall, Lincolnshire]
Publication details: 
Down's 9th Octr. 1778.'
£56.00

4to bifolium: 4 pages. Closely written. Very good, on aged paper. Address on the reverse of the second leaf, which carries two postmarks and a strong impression of his red wax seal. Wolff's letter to Combes covers the whole of the recto of the second leaf. His father-in-law Edward Weston having died eight years before, he desires 'the Business touching Mr Westons Legacy to my Children to be finally concluded on'.

Offprint by Ellis and Mott entitled 'Energy Relations in the [gamma]-Ray Type of Radioactive Disintegration'.

Author: 
C.D. Ellis [Charles Drummond Ellis (1895-1980), FRS, nuclear physicist; Sir Nevill Francis Mott (1905-1996), winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics
Publication details: 
From the 'Proceedings of the Royal Society', A, vol.141, 1933, pp.502-511. Harrison and Sons, Ltd., Printers, St. Martin's Lane, London, W.C.2.
£125.00

8vo: 10 pp. Three figures. Lightly aged, but good. In original green printed wraps. Two punch holes to inner margin. 'With the compliments of the authors' by Ellis on front wrap. Ellis was co-author, with Rutherford and Chadwick, of 'Radiations from Radioactive Substances' (CUP, 1930), a work said by A. R. Mackintosh ('The Third Man: Charles Drummond Ellis, 1895-1980', Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, July, 1995) to have been 'often referred to as the "Bible" of nuclear physics', with Ellis's contribution to the work placing him 'third among equals'.

Printed Order in Council, signed in type 'C. L. PEEL', making changes to the Assize Circuit, headed 'At the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, The 28th day of July, 1893. Present, The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.'

Author: 
Sir Charles Lennox Peel (1823-1899), Knight Clerk of the Council [Order in Council]
Publication details: 
i 78316 7400. - 9/93. [September 1893] Wt. P. 953. E. & S. [Eyre & Spottiswoode.]
£56.00

8vo, 8pp. Unbound. Stitched as issued. Text complete and clear. Good: lightly-aged and creased. The order is on pp.1-3. Followed by (over five pages): 'SCHEDULE', consisting of 'Circuits of the Judges. Civil and Criminal.', 'Autumn Circuit. Criminal Business Only, except where otherwise stated.' and 'Easter Circuit.'

Typed Letter Signed ('Basil Blackwell') to Secker.

Author: 
Sir Basil Blackwell (1889-1984), Oxford bookseller [Martin Secker (1882-1978), publisher]
Publication details: 
17 December 1969, on illustrated Blackwell's letterhead.
£35.00

4to: 1 p. Ten lines of text. Heavily stained, but a neat link between two giants of the twentieth-century British book trade. 'I give myself the pleasure of saluting you, I really believe for the first time'. He is happy for the opportunity of telling Secker how much he admired his 'flair and enterprise in earlier years'. He hopes he 'may write as firmly and with as lively a mind as you in six years' time'. 'Alas that we must disappoint you': the books Secker has requested are all out of print. 'Just possibly one or more may come into our hands secondhand.

Twelve Sketches illustrative of Sir Walter Scott's Demonology and Witchcraft.

Author: 
George Cruikshank [Sir Walter Scott; James Robins & Co., Paternoster Row]
Publication details: 
London: Published for the Artist, by J. Robins and Co. Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row. 1830.
£250.00

12mo (dimensions of leaf roughly 15.5 x 10.5 cm). Fifteen leaves each with a page of letterpress, and twelve engravings. Uncoloured. Foxed and slightly dogeared, in aged, worn and spotted wraps. Each of the twelve engravings is accompanied by a leaf carrying a page of letterpress with an illustrative quotation from Scott's work. First leaf with printed page listing four works 'Designed, Etched, and Published by G. Cruikshank', with prices; printed title; final leaf with printed page listing six priced 'Works Illustrated by George Cruikshank.

Syndicate content