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Two press photograph of racing driver Mike Hawthorn, one showing him cutting a ribbon, and the other posing indoors astride a motorcycle, as delighted spectators including five schoolboys, look on.

Both photographs in black and white, and both 25.5 x 20.5 cm. One landscape and the other portrait. The two in good condition, showing light signs of age and wear. Both clearly taken at the same event, as in both Hawthorn wears the same suit. Both taken indoors. In the first (portrait) he is...

Autograph Letter Signed from the antiquary John Timbs to an unnamed correspondent, regarding a portrait in the Illustrated London News.

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with small scrap from white label adhering to a margin. He explains that the reason that a letter has not been forwarded to him is that he has not, 'for years, had to do with the management of "the Illustrated London News"', although he does contribute to...

Autograph Note Signed ('Eldon') from the Lord Chancellor John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon, to John Cross of Lincolns Inn, undertaking to take 'the pleasure of the Prince Regent' on a certain subject. With signed envelope carrying Eldon's seal.

Both items in very good condition, on aged paper, and both with minor traces of mount. The letter is 1p., 12mo, on a bifolium. The envelope is a leaf of paper, also 1p., 12mo. It is addressed by Eldon to 'John Cross Esq | 19 Lincolns Inn', franked in the bottom left-hand corner 'Eldon', and is...

Correspondence of John Blackburne of Hale Hall, Tory MP for Lancashire for 46 years, relating to his campaign during the 1807 General Election, comprising 27 letters from 21 individuals and 4 items by Blackburne, including an address to the electors.

A supporter of William Pitt, and later of the Liverpool ministry, Blackburne was regarded as an assiduous - if lacklustre and increasingly eccentric - country member. The present collection provides a valuable insight into the network of mercantile figures (e.g. cotton magnate Henry Sudell) and...