SOULS

Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. ONE: TLS from Curtis to Francis. 1p., folio. Signed 'L. Curtis'. A circular letter, with signature, date and name of recipient added. Curtis begins the letter: 'I am writing to ask whether you would care to acquire a replica of a portrait of Lawrence which has now come to be known as "the ghost portrait." Its history is as follows: In 1923 Eric Kennington made a portrait in pastel of Lawrence, who was then a fellow in residence at All Souls.

2pp., 12mo. 25 lines of text. On aged and worn paper with slight loss at head (not affecting text). The letter begins: 'My dear Sir Redvers | I am ashamed to write to you about a personal matter at such a time, but this is, I think, a very strong claim. | George Peel, son of Lord Peel, in the Oxfordshire Yeomanry, has gone out to South Africa at his own expense, & wishes to be attached to any expedition which is sent to relieve Kimberley, because his sister is there.

1p., 4to. 12 lines, in close, neat hand. Good, on aged paper. He received Brett-James's paper that day, and 'read it through all except some of the statistics'. He discusses the 'exceptional' nature of Middlesex, college maps and the difference between the estates held in Hendon and Edgware by Alls Souls College, and 'some of our Midland estates'. In the second paragraph he comments on 'letting values in Tudor times', 'the effect of the depreciation of coinage' and 'the awful meddling with currency between 1543 and 1548'.

4pp., 4to. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. An extraordinarily callous letter, which would furnish a text for a paper on religious hypocrisy and the evils of capitalism. The context is explained in Samuel Lewis's 'Topgraphical Dictionary of England', published twenty-two years after this letter, in which the entry on 'Milton-next-Sittingborne (Holy Trinity)' contains the following: 'The commercial business consists chiefly in shipping for the London market the agricultural produce of the neighbourhood, and in bringing goods in return.

One page, 8vo, fold marks, good condition. No doubt our London House has told you that they are ordering a copy of SHAKESPEARE AND THE ACTORS for you.~35~SHAKESPEARE OUP OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS THEATRE AUTOGRAPH~ ~0~BT MSS 1~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 9764~16/09/2010~False~John Sparrow, Warden of All Souls, Bookman~Autograph Postcard SignedJ. to John Carter, c/o Sotheby's, Bookman.~Venezia, 24 Oct. 1971.~Good condition.

Both items written in pencil and good, on lightly aged paper, with their stamped and postmarked envelopes addressed by Asquith. Both envelopes with traces of brown paper mount adhering to reverse, and both docketed by the Graphic's editor 'To me Harold Lawton'. Letter One (12mo, 4 pp, headed 'Private'): Amusingly outraged letter regarding a visit by 'two gentlemen' of whom Asquith 'had no sort of knowledge'. Graphic journalists, they assured Asquith 'that nothing wd. be written about me without my seeing it first [last five words underlined in red]'.

English jurist (1843-1914), Warden of All Souls college, Oxford. Two pages, 12mo. On discoloured, grubby, creased paper, with a small closed tear and some bleeding due to damp on the verso. Extensive damp damage to blank second leaf of bifoliate. Docketed as 'To Pinkham'. Before leaving Oxford the previous week he 'ordered a somewhat miscellaneous collection of books' to be sent to his correspondent's library. 'It was a small collection - a few biographies, some college histories and one or two books which chanced to be in the booksellers catalogue & which looked interesting.