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Autograph Letter Signed ('E Knatchbull') to the Mayor of Canterbury.

Author: 
Sir Edward Knatchbull (1781-1849) of Mersham Hatch, Kent, 9th Baronet, English ultra-Tory politician [the Mayor of Canterbury]
Publication details: 
17 September 1841; Mersham Hatch.
£66.00

4to, 3 pp. Very good, on aged paper. Small punch hole through top left-hand corner of both leaves of the bifolium (not affecting text, which is clear and entire). Knatchbull claims that it has been 'intimated' to him 'that the Removal of the Troops from Canterbury in consequence of the Election for the County, which is to take place on Monday next, will cause much Inconvenience, especially to the Trade of the City'. He does not think that the Secretary of State 'would like to interfere, unless in Concurrence with the desire & opinion of the Authorities of the City of Canterbury'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George Frampton') to 'Rogers'.

Author: 
Sir George Frampton [Sir George James Frampton] (1860-1928), English sculptor and craftsman, associated with the Arts and Crafts movement
Publication details: 
March 1894; 32 Queen's Road, London NW.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper with two punch holes to the the outer edge of the first page. He apologises for troubling Rogers: 'I have not heard from yet.' Asks if Rogers would mind 'writing to ask him why he wont pay up.' Hopes Rogers is 'quite well by this time. | My panel is in the frame and finished. I want you to come and have a look at it one Sunday morn.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Sligo') to Brabazon.

Author: 
Howe Peter Browne, 2nd Marquis of Sligo (1788-1845) [Sir William Brabazon (d.1840), 2nd Bart]
Publication details: 
July 16 1833; Mansfield Street.
£50.00

12mo, 4 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper. Docketed in a contemporary hand (Brabazon's), beside Sligo's signature, 'second letter'. Sligo writes that the 'affair' to which Brabazon's letter alludes 'was purely of an official & Parliamentary nature', and that he 'must beg leave to decline receiving any communications respecting it', excepting in his 'place in the H of Lords'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Hubert Smith Stanier.

Author: 
Gifford Lumley [Devonshire; W. Mate & Sons, Limited, printers and publishers of Bournemouth, Southampton and London]
Publication details: 
23 April 1906; 62 Commercial Rd, Bournemouth, on letterhead Mate & Sons letterhead.
£85.00

8vo, 2 pp. Good, though a little grubby on the reverse. Printed down the left hand margin of the recto is a long list headed 'Printers and Publishers of Illustrated Guides to'. Printed in large letters at the centre of the letterhead is 'Shropshire: Historical and Biographical', but there is no record of this title being published, or of any volume on Shropshire by Mates & Sons. From the context it appears that Lumley had a hand in Frederick John Snell's 'Devonshire, historical, descriptive, biographical', published by Mate & Sons in 1907.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. Paulet') to Smith, former Gunnery Officer on H.M.S. Carysfort.

Author: 
Admiral Lord George Paulet, CB (1803-1879)
Publication details: 
4 July 1845; 3 Upper Eccleston Street, Belgrave Square, London.
£56.00

12mo, 4 pp, 40 lines. On slightly grubby and creased paper, with a couple of tiny closed tears. Paulet writes that he has been 'saying much in [Smith's] favor' to 'Sir W. Gage' [Admiral Sir William Hall Gage (1777-1864), a member of the Board of Admiralty]. Gage considers the certificate Paulet has given Smith 'of no use to you without your received from the Adm[ira]l. the appointment of Gunnery Officer and that you had better lose no time in applying to me for a certificate for the time that you were actually doing the duty of gunnery officer'. Paulet reckons this 'from the time of Mr.

Autograph Letter Signed to Reginald H. Leon, in envelope addressed in autograph.

Author: 
Walter de la Mare (1873-1956), English poet
Publication details: 
13 June 1921; on letterhead of 14 Thornsett Road, Anerley, London S.E.20.
£25.00

12mo, 1 p, with mourning border. Good, on lightly creased paper. Asking Leon to forward the book he wishes to have autographed. 'I will do so with pleasure.' The envelope is addressed to Leon at 6 Brendon House, Great Woodstock St, London W1. Docketed in red ink above address on front of envelope.

One Autograph Letter Signed and two Typed Letters Signed (all 'Shapoorjee Bomonjee') to Sir Henry Trueman Wood, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts.

Author: 
Sir Shapoorjee Billimoria [Sir Shapoorjee Bomonjee Billimoria] (1877-1958), Indian accountant and administrator, Sheriff of Bombay, 1935.
Publication details: 
26 January, 12 April and 23 May 1901; all on letterhead of The Commercial Training Institution, No.10, Church Gate Street, Fort, Bombay, India.
£100.00

All items 4to, 1 p. All on aged paper: the first and last good; the second lightly creased and with the ink having eaten away at a few words, and some chipping at foot, affecting signature (partially repaired with archival tape), but with text clear and entire. All three bearing the Society's stamp and the first two docketed. Concerning his desire to become a member of the Society. In the second (autograph) letter he inquires whether 'any one from Bombay may be nominated for Membership of your Society by the Council in case he has no friends of his who are Members of your Society'.

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all three 'Norman Lockyer') to 'Farquhar'.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), English scientist and astronomer, co-discoverer of helium gas [Norman Lockyer Observatory; Harrogate]
Publication details: 
9, 11 and 19 August 1900; first letter from 16 Penywern Road, London SW; second on letterhead of the Solar Physics Observatory, South Kensington, London; third on letterhead of Marine House, Whitley, R.S.O., Northumberland.
£85.00

The first and second letters are both 12mo, 2 pp; the third is 12mo, 1 p. The first and third are good, on lightly aged paper; the second has some smoke staining to top and bottom outside corners. All text clear and entire. The letters concern Farquhar's efforts, as a 'friendly service' on Lockyer's behalf, to get a room in Harrogate. References to the Majestic and Prince of Wales hotels, and to 'Oliver' (perhaps J. A. W. Oliver?).

Autograph Note Signed ('Norman Lockyer') to 'Mr Boys'.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), English scientist and astronomer, co-discoverer of helium gas [Norman Lockyer Observatory]
Publication details: 
21 November [no year]; on letterhead of the Solar Physics Observatory, South Kensington, London.
£23.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on aged paper with a couple of small stains to the left of the signature. Accepting a dinner invitation.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. R. Drummond | V Adml | Comr. in Chief') to Sir George Granville Randolph (1818-1907) ('Rear Admiral G. Randolph, C.B.').

Author: 
Vice Admiral the Hon. James Robert Drummond (1812-1895), Royal Navy, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean [Victorian; naval and maritime]
Publication details: 
H M S Lord Warden Malta | Feb 23rd. 1874'.
£85.00

12mo, 2 pp. On Drummond's embossed crested letterhead. Good: on lightly aged paper with corners a little dogeared and slight discoloration along one margin. Small glue stain from previous mounting at foot of reverse (not affecting text). Headed 'General Memo -'. Instructing Randolph 'to conduct all necessary evolutions relative to the exercise of guns, Sails, Boats - small arm | men landing, & Marines - on acting permission for the same from my Flag as he may find conducive to the instruction of the Ships of the Ships herein named of the squadron [five ships named at end of letter]'.

Wood engraving entitled 'GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, DUBLIN, 1853. | [...] DRAWN BY GILBERT, FROM DESIGNS BY J. MAHONY, ESQ.] [ENGRAVED BY H. LINTON AND G. PEARSON.'

Author: 
The Great Industrial Exhibition, Dublin, 1853 [William Dargan (1799-1867); Sir John Benson (1812-74), architect; Sir John Gilbert (1817-97), J. Mahony; Henry Linton, and George Pearson, engravers]
Publication details: 
Without place or date [circa 1853].
£250.00

Attractive image roughly eleven inches by ten wide, captioned 'VIEW OF THE INTERIOR OF THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION, DUBLIN - OPENED MAY 12, 1853.' On piece of paper roughly fourteen and a half inches by eleven. Good on light-foxed aged paper with two neat vertical folds (perhaps indicating removal from a book). At foot of page list of twelve measurements of the 'PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS OF THE BUILDING', from 'Main Frontage' to 'Width of Outer Gallery'.

Letter, in a secretarial hand, Signed ('P Watts') to Archibald Hurd, 6 Stafford Terrace, Plymouth.

Author: 
Sir Philip Watts (1846-1926), English naval architect [Sir Archibald Hurd (1869-1959); Elswick Shipyard, Newcastle upon Tyne; Victorian shipbuilding; maritime]
Publication details: 
16 July 1898; on Elswick Shipyard letterhead.
£85.00

4to, 2 pp, 18 lines. Text clear and entire on aged, creased paper, with pin holes and indentations and slight smoke-staining in right-hand margin of first leaf (not affecting text) and on the blank reverse of the second leaf. The late response to Hurd's letter of 13 March is due to 'a clerical oversight and the illness and absence of the writer'. Gives details of the amount of coal carried by the 'Blanco Encalada', 'Hai Chi' and 'Buenos Aires', as well as their bunker capacity and normal supplies. He also refers to the 'Astraea' and the 'Japanese Battleship "Yahsima"'.

[Railway Reading.] Workmen's Earnings, Strikes, and Savings. By Samuel Smiles, author of 'Life of George Stephenson,' 'Self Help,' etc. Reprinted from the 'Quarterly Review.'

Author: 
Samuel Smiles [Victorian trades unions; strikes; industrial action]
Publication details: 
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1861. Printed by W. Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street, and Charing Cross.
£120.00

12mo, 168 pp. In original red printed wraps, yellow endpapers. Attractive bookseller's ticket of 'Hunt Books 1919 Southborough Kent England' on front pastedown. Internally sound, with a little light staining and some unobtrusive marking in margins. Wraps chipped and worn at corners and spine, with small ink stain on back. Front wrap headed 'RAILWAY READING.' Small neat ownership stamp of J. D. Bowen at head of title.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Leslie Rundle') to 'My dear General'.

Author: 
Leslie Rundle [Sir Henry Macleod Leslie Rundle] (1856-1934), British army officer
Publication details: 
31 July 1904; on letterhead of Government House, York.
£56.00

12mo, 3 pp. Good on lightly-aged paper. He has 'written to the necessary authorities' about his correspondent's son. 'Of course it will largely depend on which Slade [Lt-Gen. Frederick George Slade (b.1851), C.B.] says about him, as I do not know your son personally - though his record reads an exceptionally good one.' He is sorry to hear about his correspondent's brother's death: 'he was always very kind' to Rundle.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Osbert') to 'My dear James'.

Author: 
Osbert Sitwell [Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet] (1892-1969), English writer and aesthete
Publication details: 
Monday' [no date]; on illustrated letterhead of Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire (amended by Sitwell to 'Renishaw | N[ear]. Sheffield').
£120.00

12mo, 2 pp. Very good. Attractive letterhead with engraved illustration of 'Renishaw Hall | Derbyshire' (last word crossed out by Sitwell). Written in purple ink. Asks if there is 'anything to be made of a curtain-raiser, or short film, which wd. show Napoleon catching the cold, which lost him the Battle of Waterloo? . . It is an amusing idea.' He considers that it is 'sure to have been some very silly person who sneezed at him . . . Or is the idea nonsense!'

Autograph Letter Signed ('P Watts') to Archibald Hurd, 5 Downshire Hill, Hampstead, London N.W.

Author: 
Sir Philip Watts (1846-1926), English naval architect [Sir Archibald Hurd (1869-1959)]
Publication details: 
20 [corrected from 18] October 1909; on embossed Admiralty letterhead.
£100.00

4to, 2 pp, 25 lines. Good, on slightly discoloured and grubby paper. Watts takes issue with 'The statement of British Shipbuilding Programmes since 1889' which Hurd has forwarded. 'It was found more convenient to draw up the table again', and Watts is sending 'the result of the investigations which have been made' (table not present). He is in 'complete agreement' with the 'statements under the headings of Battleships, Armoured Cruisers and 1st. class Cruisers', but 'Under the headings of 2nd. and 3rd.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Rennell Rodd | priv: sec:') to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
James Rennell Rodd (1858-1941), 1st Baron Rennell, English diplomat and classical scholar
Publication details: 
13 September 1888; on official letterhead from the British Embassy, Berlin.
£35.00

12mo, 2 pp, 10 lines. Good, on lightly aged paper, with scrap of brown paper mount adhering in top right-hand corner on the reverse (not affecting text). Concerns a volume which 'has been duly forwarded to Count Seckendorff, Comptroller of the Household of Her Majesty the Emperess Frederick'. The Ambassador Sir Edward Malet has asked Rodd to express to the correspondent 'his personal thanks for the second copy you were good enough to forward to him'.

2 Autograph Letters Signed by Close (both 'C. F. Close') to Dawkins; and one Typed Letter Signed ('H. R. Douglas') from Douglas to Close.

Author: 
Sir Charles Close [Sir Charles Frederick Arden-Close] (1865-1952), surveyor and geographer; Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Percy Douglas (1876-1939) [Sir Wiliam Boyd Dawkins (1837-1929), geologist]
Publication details: 
Close's letters: 17 and 24 April 1926, both on letterhead of Coytbury, St. Giles's Hill, Winchester; Douglas's letter: 23 April 1926, on letterhead of the Hydrographic Department, Admiralty, Whitehall, London, S.W.1.
£100.00

All three letters good, on lightly aged paper. Close's first letter (12mo, 2 pp): He is pleased to hear 'that Professor O. T. Jones is convalescent and back at work'. Close will write to him to ask if he will take part in the 'Commission' on the 'Terrasses littorales'. Having none 'handy', he is writing to the Admiralty Hydrographer for a 'list of Admiralty Charts'. The Closes have 'settled to take a house in Jersey for the children's holidays', so there is 'little chance of our being at Oxford for the British Association meeting'.

Autograph Note in the third person to 'the Lord Mayor elect and the Sheriffs' of the City of London.

Author: 
George Tierney (1761-1830), Anglo-Irish Whig politician [Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832) of Kyllachy]
Publication details: 
Monday 9th. Inst. [no date]'.
£56.00

On piece of paper roughly 5.5 x 12 cm. Neatly laid down on a quarto leaf removed from an autograph album. Autograph and mount both damp-stained. Reads 'Mr Tierney presents his Compts to the Lord Mayor elect and the Sheriffs. will have the honor of waiting upon them Monday 9th Inst.' The leaf on which the autograph is mounted carries thirteen lines of biographical information in a nineteenth-century hand. Laid down on the reverse of the mount is an oval engraved portrait (not stated, but by William Ridley, published by Vernor & Hood, after John Opie), c.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George Stephen') to 'My dear Valentine'.

Author: 
Sir George Stephen (1794-1879), English abolitionist, lawyer and author
Publication details: 
22 August 1844; 17 Kings Arms Yard [London].
£85.00

Landscape 8vo (roughly 12 x 20 cm), 1 p, 8 lines. On creased and lightly aged paper. Text clear and entire. Stephen is afraid that Valentine's 'poor protegée will not [...] get much out of her claim!' Stephen cannot help her 'because litigation in a colony can only be conducted by a solicitor resident within it, and bad as we are reputed to be at home, they are far worse in the Colonies!' However he has 'written a strong professional letter for her that may perchance obtain an answer'.

Autograph Letter in the third person to 'Mr Twining'.

Author: 
Richard Westmacott (1799-1872), English sculptor
Publication details: 
31 January 1862; 1 Kensington Gate.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp, 18 lines. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. 'Mr. Westmacott presents his Compts and has to acknowledge Mr Twinings polite letter'. Its delivery has been delayed 'owing to its incorrect address', 'Mr W. having left Wilton <& Co.?>. (and quitted the practice of his profession) for some years'. As for 'Engravings and Photographs' of Westmacott's works, 'very few were made'. Most of these were 'ill done', although he does name one with which he was satisfied. Consequently Westmacott cannot 'assist Mr. Twining in his object'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Sir Charles Watkin Williams Wynn (1775-1850), President of the Board of Control.

Author: 
Francis Rawdon Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings and 2nd Earl of Moira (1754-1826), Anglo-Irish army officer and Governor General of Bengal [George Canning; Sir Edward Paget]
Publication details: 
10 December 1822; Calcutta.
£100.00

4to, 3 pp, 26 lines. Discoloured and lightly stained, with a couple of closed tears, but with text clear and entire. Marked 'Private' and docketed 'No. 5932'. An interesting letter, written on the eve of Hastings' return to England from his post as Governor General of Bengal, giving 'the state of affairs here up to the latest moment', everything being 'quiet and prosperous'. Discusses the state of Government Bonds. 'Sir Edward Paget is in the River & will land tomorrow.

Autograph Draft of Letter to his publishers Messrs Petter & Galpin [George William Petter and Thomas Dixon Galpin, associates of John Cassell].

Author: 
George Cruikshank (1792-1878), English graphic artist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£85.00

12mo (18 x 11 cm): 1 p. 15 lines of text. On aged paper with one light stain at centre. Corner on reverse tipped in onto card mount. No signature. Introducing 'Miss Napier who has just returned from the Cape of Good Hope - She has one or two M.SS which she wishes to submit to your notice [...] you will kindly assist the lady in her literary efforts'. Miss Napier's address is given as '4 Beech View Villas, South Penge Park | Penge Surrey SE.' It is perhaps significant that Sir George Thomas Napier (1784-1855) was Governor of the Cape of Good Hope from 1837 to 1843.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Gerald Kelly') to unnamed male autograph hunter.

Author: 
Sir Gerald Kelly (1879-1972), portrait painter, Aleister Crowley's brother-in-law
Publication details: 
29 September 1935; on letterhead '65, Gloucester Place, Portman Square, W.1.'
£30.00

One page, 12mo. On ruckled paper with damage on reverse due to removal from mount. Text clear and entire. The autograph wasn't sent because Kelly was away. 'Why you want it I can't understand but since you ask for it: - here it is: -'.

Autographs and Manuscripts. Catalogue of a Selection of Important Historical, Literary and other Autographs, being the second portion of a Collection for Sale.

Author: 
M. M. Holloway, London autograph dealer [autographs; sale catalogues]
Publication details: 
London: M. M. Holloway, 25 Bedford Street, Strand, W.C. 1862.
£60.00

Octavo: 52 pp. Stitched and unbound. Good, if a tad grubby. In alphabetical order from Queen Adelaide to the Duchess of York, but lotted 236 to 553. Tastefully printed, and including letters of Charles I, Coleridge, Dr Johnson, Samuel Richardson, Rossini, Sir Walter Scott, Laurence Sterne and Horace Walpole.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A. U. W.'), on reverse of Typed Letter Signed to him from A. F. Davis of Wednesfield.

Author: 
Sir Algernon Usborne Willis (1889-1976), British Admiral of the Fleet
Publication details: 
Davis's letter, 4 June 1953, "Carnbargis," Neachells Lane, Wednesfield, South Staffordshire; Willis's reply without date or place.
£40.00

The two items one page, on both sides of an octavo sheet. Good, with unobtrusive strip of glue along one edge of Davis's side of the leaf. Davis is 'endeavouring to make a collection of autographs of the leaders of the United Nations, and especially of the British Commonwealth of Nations', and lists those he has already acquired. Willis encloses an 'autograph card' (not present) and suggests that Davis try '(a) Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Olivier, who is now 88 and was one of the Naval Leaders of World War I. He has been an A of F for over 25 years!

Autograph Note Signed ('Geo: Macdonald') to unnamed male correspondent [the autograph collector Rev. E. J. A. Davies?]

Author: 
Sir George Macdonald (1862-1940), numismatist, classical scholar, archaeologist and civil servant
Publication details: 
13 March 1931; on embossed letterhead '17 LEARMOUTH GARDENS | EDINBURGH'.
£20.00

One page, 12mo. Very good, with a little light spotting at foot. 'Dear Sir, | I suppose it will suffice if I sign myself | Yours faithfully | Geo: Macdonald'. Docketed in pencil at foot.

Autograph Note Signed ('G M Trevelyan') to unnamed male correspondent [Rev. E. J. F. Davies].

Author: 
George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876-1962), English Liberal historian
Publication details: 
14 April 1931; on letterhead Hallington Hall, Newcastle-on-Tyne. '(22 miles.)'
£10.00

One page, small octavo. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper, with a little rust spotting from paperclips. From the collection of the autograph hunter Rev. E. J. F. Davies. 'I have great pleasure in doing as you ask.'

Autograph Note Signed ('Charles Oman') to unnamed correspondent.

Author: 
Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman (1860-1946), British military historian and Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
1 April 1930; on embossed letterhead of the House of Commons Library.
£25.00

One page, 12mo. Good but with paperclip spotting at head (not affecting text). Three-line quotation clearly sent in response to a request for an autograph. 'Broadmindedness, so called, is generally no more than the silly fear of being thought narrow-minded - | [signed] Charles Oman'.

Autograph Letter Signed to Dawson Turner from his daughter Elizabeth ('E. Palgrave').

Author: 
Elizabeth Palgrave (nee Turner, 1799-1852), wife of Sir Francis Palgrave (1788-1861) [Dawson Turner]
Publication details: 
[Docketed by Turner 'Hampstead 21st June 1848.']
£80.00

One page, octavo. Good, on aged paper with some loss to extremities repaired with archival tape. Fifteen lines of text clear and complete. On learning of Dawson Turner's celebrated collection of autographs from her son, Elizabeth Palgrave's 'kind old neighbour' Lady Bentham asked her 'some questions which led to the enclosed note & the letters I send' (none present).

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