Book Trade History

8vo: 32 pages. Stitched pamphlet. In small type. Good on aged paper with light wear to covers and dog-eared corners. Text clear and complete. A few pencil notes. Prices are given. The last four pages consist of an 'Extrait du Catalogue de Librairie Furne, Jouvet et Cie, éditeurs'. No illustrations. Scarce: not in the Bibliothèque Nationale, which does however contain a copy of an 1871 catalogue by the firm. No copy on COPAC. The British Library has one of the firm's catalogues from 1890.

India paper engraving (dimensions c. 22 x 16 cms) neatly laid down on piece of wove paper c. 29 x 22 cms. Very good, with the slightest spotting, and with minor creasing and staining to the extremities of the mount. A pensive Murray sits in an armchair, reading a manuscript.

4to, 2 pp. Thirty-six lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Rylands thanks Conder for the trouble he has taken 'about this plate of the Temple'. Discusses an edition of Josephus, and a possible painting by Parmentier of 'the building of the Temple and not the Temple built'. Discusses the origin of the plate Conder has sketched, with architectural references. 'Schott's engraving was often copied, [...] Fergusson, with all his study, did not come to anything better'. Rylands was initiated in the Lodge of Faith and Unanimity No.

12mo, 32 pp. Stapled. Text clear and complete. On aged and worn paper, with rusted staples causing the outer bifolium to detach. Items 2067 to 2786, with 'Supplément. Deutsche Werhe.' (Items from the firm's Leipzig branch.)

Letter: 12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Good, on aged paper, with small rust stain at head from paperclip. She is writing to Harmsworth ('President, Dr Johnson's House') to ask him to accept a copy of 'my Journal in which mention is made of my Portrait of Dr Samuel Johnson which hangs in the Garrett of Dr Samuel Johnson house this was presented by H. B. Wheatley whom I knew for many years.' On a visit to the curator of Johnson's house she was 'pleased to see the picture still hands in its original place'.

8vo, 12 pp. Stapled pamphlet. Text clear and complete. On aged, worn and spotted paper. A total of 204 lots. Pencil notes to lots 4, 9 and 11, with slip indicating their purchase prices, totalling £10 12s 0d. Lot 179 ('Another Property') is given prominence: 'FRANCIS COTES, R.A. A PORTRAIT OF A LADY in White Dress with Green Sash and Pink Cloak, her hair dressed high and adorned with pearls, 3.4 length | 50in. x 40in. | Signed and dated 1788.' No copy in the British Library, on COPAC or WorldCat.

A scarce piece of Liverpool printing ephemera. Dimensions approximately 63 x 51 cm. Both sides printed in light blue. Text and illustrations complete. In need of expert cleaning and repair: grubby and stained, with chipping to extremities and some closed tears. At the head of the one side is the masthead of 'The Employment Exchange | Edited by Charles H. Megson' ('The only recognized medium for speedy Employment. Absolutely without rival.') with illustrations of figures at work.

12mo, 61 pp. In original brown printed wraps. Engraving of Sheldonian Theatre on front, otherwise the item is not illustrated. 2864 items, ranging from '1 AARON, Rev. born 1695, engraved by Vertue. 5s 6d' to '2864 Zonelli (Anton. Maria) after Joan. Anton. Faldoni, Man blowing Horn, with hounds. 5s'. Fair, on aged paper, with a few leaves dogeared, in worn wraps chipped at extremities, and with 4.5 cm closed tear at foot of spine. Presentation inscription at head of front wrap: 'R. G. Bartelot. from Fredk. Bennett'.

12mo, 1 p. On first leaf of a bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. In reply to the recipient's note, by which he is 'much worried', Fry does not know that he can offer him 'any more than the few short notes <?> for us in "Men & Women of the Times". Little is known about Fry, apart from the fact that he was born in Van Diemen's Land, the son of the Church of England clergyman Henry Phibbs Fry (c.1807-1874).

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Watermarked 'TOWGOOD'S | SUPER FINE | 1859'. Eighty-seven lines of text. Text clear and complete on aged and grubby paper. With little hope of influencing the editor of Punch, the author feels compelled to 'write and tell you what I and many others think about your Publication and the malignant spite you display towards individuals who happen to incur your wrath'. This 'malignity', he feels, 'must be derived from that murderous old ruffian from whom your publication takes its name, and which alone prevents it being an influential publication.

8vo, 2 pp. 40 lines of text. Stamped and docketed by Bumpus. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. A splendid diatribe. She is enclosing a cheque for £5 and asks for 'books to the value of thirty shillings to be placed to her account. 'The books written for by me some time ago have arrived; but I was greatly displeased to receive "abridged" editions of the two childrens' [sic] books ordered - "The Wide Wide Word" and "Queechy".

On one side of a piece of grey wove paper roughly 13 x 20 cm. Elaborate engraved letterhead in a variety of fonts: 'To Chas. Edwd. Mudie, | BOOKSELLER, STATIONER & NEWS AGENT, | 28, Upper King Street, Bloomsbury Square. | Select Library of Popular Works, | IN HISTORY, RELIGION, PHILOSOPHY & GENERAL LITERATURE. | Single Subscription Seven Shillings a Quarter, One Guinea a Year. | [at left] BOOKBINDING | AND | Engraving' | [at left] PRINTING | AND | Lithography.' Boissier's subscription for '15 Vols. new' is charged at five guineas. In a large hand at foot of page: 'Recd Payt.

Novelist. Two pages, 4to, chatting about personal matters and a MS. by a Mr Bligh which Rosamund Lehmann and C. Day Lewis wish to recommend for publication. [A note added to the letter in Goerge's [?] hand says that the book was published by Secker & Warburg.] She looks forward to the end of the War, concluding with impromtu verse: "I want to climb a steeple/ I want to ring the bell,/So I can tell the people/I love them all so well".

Novelist (1770-1844)(DNB). One page, 4to, bifoliate (blank except for Williams' name and address), some marking but text clear and complete. "I am much pleased with the design inclosed but have to observe that I think the tall boy a little too tall and that his trousers have more the look of a young sailor than those of e gentleman - the farmer boy is excellent - the lake scene very prettty and the whole satisfactory. I had great pleasure in naming you as an artist of great promise to Mr Newman who does a great deal of business & is a very worthy man and good judge of art . . . N.B.

12mo: 2 pp. Twenty-eight lines of closely-written text. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. She has received his letter and the cheque for £7 10s 'for the Vidal', about the sale of which and the price she is 'very much pleased'. 'You do not mention the commission [...] I hope for good luck with Hall's Stradivari later.' His 'kindness [...] is greatly appreciated'. 'I hope to come in one day when the spring is really here.

On one side of piece of paper 23.5 x 16 cm. With perforated edge. Good, on aged paper, with traces with strip of glue from previous mount on reverse. Printed in copperplate. The deposited works are 'Notes on the Maces, Insignia of Office, and Town Plate of the Town of Guildford', 'Progress of Catholic Work', 'Token Pamphlet', 'Guildford Shakespeare' and 'County Town'. Ostensibly signed by the 'Keeper', but the signature is not decipherable (''). In his obituary in The Times, 6 July 1942, Williamson was praised as 'a highly industrious and versatile writer on art'.

LETTER: One page, quarto. Somewhat aged and creased. An attractive item in Carter's disciplined calligraphic hand. A damning assessment of Craig's son Edward Anthony Craig ('Edward Carrick', 1905-98). '[...] If you know him, you presumably also know what you are taking on! We had some dealings with Teddy over possibly printing old EGC's engravings of Robinson Crusoe, but Teddy sold them, [...] My impression is that the old rogue manufactured archives in order to sell them to someone - preferably twice.

Folio bifolium (leaf dimensions approximately 50.5 x 34 cm). Unbound. Creased, with worn central horizontal fold, and somewhat dogeared at head and foot. Four pages, printed in black, with the first and fourth pages carrying a few words in red.

Printed on pink [faded from red?] unwatermarked paper, with cream backing. Dimensions of paper roughly fourteen centimeters by thirty-three centimeters. A frail ephemeral item. Lightly creased, and with further creasing and closed tears at head and foot, and minor loss at head. Faded, and with further fading at head. Headed 'At the Sign of Flying Fame.' Illustration by Lovat Fraser of mounted seventeenth-century man blowing bugle over cityscape. 'LIST OF PUBLICATIONS' includes details of six broadsides and four chap-books.

Alexander MacLehose: Letter One: 4to, 1 p. Good, on slightly aged and lightly creased paper. He is sending a copy of his catalogue, 'which has reached me from the printers to-day'. He has 'sent a copy also to the firm'. Would like Wilson's 'advice as to whether "Memories of the Months" should have a paper jacket. The binders have sent me a nice cellophane cover, which shows the rather handsome binding. Would there be any objection, from a selling point of view, to a cellophane cover in place of the ordinary paper jacket?' Letter Two: 12mo, 2 pp.

12mo, 1 p. Six lines of text. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper. Inviting Macmillan to join him and 'some of the lads' in a dinner at the Reform Club, 'on the occasion of Colin Hunter's being made an Associate'.

8vo: 2 pp. Bifolium. Good, on lightly creased and discoloured paper, with strip roughly 1.5 x 6 cm missing from top outside corner of first leaf, resulting in loss of around four words. 'Dr. Macleod' [Norman Macleod, 1812-1872, DNB] has just returned 'the M.SS which you were kind enough to submit to me | He likes Miss Robertson's papers, and would be glad to give her a place in "Good Words" if she wrote anything suitable.' Macleod 'is to think over a subject and suggest it the first time he is in town'.

8vo, 1 p. Addressed by Combe on the reverse, to which his monogram seal in red wax (with his motto 'RES NON VERBA QUAESO') still adheres. In poor condition, on discoloured paper, with damage to a few words of text above the signature caused by clumsy removal from the mount, a part of which still adheres to the reverse. Repaired with archival tape. The letter presumably concerns 'Additional testimonials on behalf of George Combe, as a candidate for the chair of logic in the University of Edinburgh' (1836). It reads 'Gentlemen | Be so good as correct these proofs, make them up in 8vo.

All three items in good condition, a little grubby and lightly creased. Three pieces of nineteenth-century Scottish book trade ephemera. Item One (12mo, 1 p, nine lines of text): printed announcement that the 'concluding Volumes of our Edition of OWEN'S WORKS [...] will not be sent to Subscribers in arrear'. On the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium, with the verso of the blank second leaf docketed by Alsop. Item Two (12mo, 1 p, on grey-paper printed form): invoice, 'To JOHNSTONE & HUNTER, 15 PRINCES STREET.', dated June 1855. The subscription of 'J. Allsop Esqr.

8vo: 2 pp. The 'idea is worth Consideration', but Blackwood 'can hardly see how any large sale cann be depended upon, so as to repay the expense of printing advertising &c.' Asks that Morris send him 'one sermon, to indicate style, length & to estimate cost'. Asks what size of paper should be used. Notices that Morris's works are 'principally on natural history'. Likes the idea of 'the <?> natural history', and 'will take an early opportunity of looking at it'. This notable London publisher is a surprising omission from BBTI.

Two pages, 12mo. Very good. In a case involving ['The Sphere'?] newspaper, Crooke has accepted the judgement in the case of the printers Hodge & Co., but he has appealed 'to the Inner House of the Court of Session' against the judgement in the case against the publishers. 'If the appeal is proceeded with it is not likely to be heard sooner than about December.'

Wife of the noted Scottish naturalist (1830-82). The recipient (1812-1904) is author of the celebrated 'Self-help' (1859). Three pages, 12mo, with mourning border. Very good on slightly discoloured paper. She has found among her late husband's letters 'one from you in which you ask for any information which was in my husband's power to give about the late Mr. Robert Dick of Thurso and for any letters of his which might be of use in preparing a Memoir of Robert Dick's life'.

4to, 1 page and 12mo, 2 pp (single 4to leaf, folded as to give two 12mo pp on one side). Thirty-seven lines of text. Maccall is 'willing to accept any proposal which is reasonable and just' concerning his 'Christian Legends' (published by Sonnenschein in 1882), and also 'to make sacrifices for the sake of obliging [...] As the one manuscript is about twice the length of the other - I speak from memory, - it might honestly claim better remuneration'.

The photographs vary in size from 24 x 18.5 cm to 8 x 6.5 cm. The overall condition is good, with one chipped along the edges. 13 have been touched up for publication, a few quite heavily. Annotated, with dimensions, on backs.

12mo, 2 pp. Good, on lightly aged paper with slight creasing at head. He is enclosing a letter (not present) apologising 'for absence from Dr. Patersons funeral'. Asks if MacLehose can help him find the address of 'A. Craig Paterson'. 'I know that one of the sons is an English clergyman, but am not sure whether this is he.' The envelope, addressed by Caird to 'Jas. MacLehose Esq. | St. Vincent St. | Glasgow', bears a purple penny stamp, postmarked '159' beside a circular postmark in black ink, containing '4 H | GLASGOW | JU 29 | 81'