STANHOPE

The five letters total 10pp., 12mo. On five bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged. An interesting correspondence, from one of the trustees of the new National Portrait Gallery to its (as yet unknighted) secretary. ONE: 'Brit. Mus. | Saturday afternoon' [1859]. 1p., 12mo. Begins: 'Lord Macaulay [another trustee] tells me that he intends to visit the Portrait Gallery with some friends at 3 on Monday.' TWO: Chevening. 2 November 1859. 2pp., 12mo. After thanking him for 'the drawings for Lady Stanhope' he exclaims: 'Another terrible storm yesterday!

Totalling 14pp., 12mo. On four bifoliums. In good condition, lightly-aged. The correspondence indicates the closeness between Scharf and the family of the man responsible for his appointment as Secretary to the National Portrait Gallery. Topics include: the obtaining by her son [Edward Stanhope (1840-1893)] of 'a first Class in Mathematics the first in that branch at Ch[rist]. Ch[urch, Oxford].

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. An excellent letter, filled with content. Mahon has received Badcock's letter and is 'glad to find that you have had the company of Lord & Lady Buckingham at Portsmouth'. Following 'the disasters that have taken place in Holland' (the Six Days' Campaign) he expected 'that the Militia Battalion would have been sent thither, & indeed there seems to have been some hesitation upon the subject of their destination, as their departure has been delayed long after they were embarked'.

2pp., 12mo. 29 lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with minor traces of previous mounting, and the annotation '13/19' in a contemporary hand. A significant letter relating to an important collection. Fielding bequeathed his herbarium and botanical library to the University of Oxford where, as the Oxford DNB explains, they formed for many years 'one of the key resources for the study of botany'.

12mo, 1 p. On mourning paper. Ten lines of text, followed by initialed signature 'GS.' Clear and complete. Good, on aged paper. Scharf states that his last meeting with Stanhope was at Chevening on 20 November 1875, and that he had 'almost up to the last moment been reading to him "Advice to Julia" by Henry Lutterell illigitimate [sic] son of Lord Carhampton, publd by Murray. 1820'. Stanhope, he concludes, 'enjoyed it very much'.

12mo, 2 pp. 28 lines of text. Clear and complete. Folded into a packet 5 x 6.5 cm. With envelope addressed by Peddie as 'from | the Minto House Hospital | Edinburgh.' Fair, on aged paper with some short closed tears to the folds. Speer has been an assistant at Minto House since the previous 1 May, 'during which period he has witnessed a great amount of medical and surgical practice, has had under his own care a very considerable number of patients [...]'.

The material is loosely sewn together and not bound, much marking and chipping but little textual loss. There is an interchange of information, the main drive being antiquarian material concerning Sir Michael Stanhope, however remote the connection, some elicited by a request for information in "Notes & Queries".Twenty-one autograph letters, most extensive, signed from antiquaries, many distinguished: Robert Lemon, archivist (DNB) (1), George R. Corner, antiquary (DNB) (9), "Mr Sage" (enclosed in letter from King - and TO H.W. King - but signature cut off: "E.J.

British politician (1847-1923), member of House of Commons (1886-1892; 1893-1900), member of House of Lords after becoming Lord Weardale in 1905; president of two Interparliamentary Conferences (1890; 1906). These two items constitute a long and extremely interesting critique of Jacobs' 'Neutrality versus justice: an essay on international relations' (1917). LETTER ONE: nine pages, 12mo. Very good, on three bifoliate letterheads.

One of the editors of the Dictionary of National Biography (born 1882). The recipient (1886-1957) was a noted archaeologist. Two pages, 12mo. In poor condition: creased, grubby, worn, stained and repaired. Weaver has just been reading Crawford's 'extremely interesting autobiography with its most original title' ('Said and done.

Stanhope (1805-1875) was styled Lord Mahon until his father's death in 1855. Signed 'Mahon' on fragment of document (dimensions 3 inches by 4 inches). Ruckled and discoloured as a result of previous mounting. Until 1846 Mahon was Secretary of the Board of Control for India, and the document would appear to be a fragment of a receipt for his salary.

(See Boase, Adams b. 1775 d. 1862, confidential secretary to William Pitt [for whom Lady Hester Stanhope kept house for a time], May 1804-Feb.[Note] 1806). One page, 4.5 x 10", damaged and stained but text readable, most clear. As follows: "Lady Hester Stanhope has desired me to order the Morning Post [underlined] to be sent to her at Dawlish near Teignmouth Devonshire/ Have you done anything about the Port Folios[both words underlined] which I sent for some days ago?" Byfield appears in Brown's London Publishers.