Literature

8vo: 3 pp. On grubby, lightly creased paper. The recipient has made Meldrum a 'pretty present' of her edition of Burns (COPAC provides no clue as to her identity). He finds the volumes 'very dainty', and will read her notes 'with interest'. He has already read her 'Introductions' with 'great pleasure'. He comments on her assessment of a couple of poems and finds her 'standpoint' on 'the man & the poet' 'capital'. 'But you must allow me one criticism: you read into the poems a political significance which I'm sure wasn't there.

12mo: 3 pp. Bifolium. 27 lines, written in a shaky hand. On creased, discoloured paper, and with some damage to the second leaf caused by careless removal from mount. Two irregularly-shaped closed tears on the second leaf, one to the left of the signature, have been neatly repaired on the reverse with archival tape. He is glad that his correspondent likes 'our Odyssey: the Iliad is less attractive. [...] I dare not remember all my books, but will ask Messrs Longman to send a list of what they possess. All are very unpopular.' He doesn't write in 'T.

One page, 12mo. Black bordered. Very good and with the verso of the blank second leaf of the bifolium laid down on a leaf detached from an autograph album. Nine lines. He thanks him for 'a brace of splendid grouse - which are now so rare as not to be had for money. It was therefore doubly generous [...] Endulging [sic] the pleasing hope of "Revenge" - & with kind regards to your House circle'.

12mo: 3 pp. Bifoilum. Thirty-six lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with several pin holes, light spotting, and a 1 cm closed tear along a fold. A lighthearted epistle, beginning 'Dear Everard, Dear Everard | The Cistercians make an awful mistake in giving free meals. My Charity-organisation Society temperament rises in wrath: if they wd only apply the labour test for an hour or less - but free meals! I have watched the moral ravages of free meals and feel more strongly abt that kind of thing than about Home rule or Mediaeval Brases.

Scottish novelist (1869-1902) of the 'kailyard school'. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by three inches. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of pink paper. Reads '[...] Let me add that your suggestion as to the poets of the early part of the last century is one which appeals to me much. | I am, dear Madam | yours faithfully | George Douglas. | Miss S. E. S. Mair, | [...]'. Docketed in pencil.

Scottish poet and writer (1784-1842). One page, 8vo. In very good condition, if somewhat grubby. Folded three times. Reverse bears remains of glue from previous mounting along one edge. An interesting letter from an important literary figure of the period, contributor to 'Blackwood's' and the 'London', friend of James Hogg, Scott, Carlyle, Charles Lamb and many other writers, and for many years secretary to the sculptor Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey. He thanks his correspondent for his 'clever Book' and 'kind offer'.

Page trimmed of peripherals, c. 4 x 3", removed from an album, text as folllows: "Dear Sir // I fancy the Society should pay the [inclosed ??] in the first instance & recover from the gentlemen who a: [new line] vail [avail?] themselves of the tickets which I sent to you. / We will hear of our Address today Yours truly / W Scott [underlined]" David Brewster, scientist (DNB) had a hand in the growth of the collection of autographs in which this appeared.

12mo: 8 pp. Unbound. On art paper. Fair: lightly-aged with a little spotting to outer pages. 'Six poems, associated with, or in the autograph of, Williamina Belsches Stuart, who, when Sir Walter Scott's courtship of her was not countenanced by her parents, married Sir William Forbes, 7th Bart., of Pitsligo, are in the National Library of Scotland.' Uncommon: COPAC lists copies at five of the six deposit libraries, at St Andrews and at Edinburgh.

Symington (1825-98), a minor Scottish poet, traveller and author, spent a year in America and edited a selection of President Garfield's speeches, and thus was accorded an entry in Appleton's Cyclopaedia. The poem (four pages, 12mo, on bifoliate, very good with light spotting and staining) is printed in blue, with an engraving in black of (according to the poem) 'a Harp [...] of rare beauty [...] On either side, an alabaster Cross | Of snowy whiteness twined with dew-sprent flowers' and a 'white Dove with an olive branch [...] | Descending'.

Scottish scholar, folklorist, poet and man of letters (1844-1912). Four pages, 12mo. Good, but the last page in particular grubby and stained. Shaky hand indicating old age. He wishes his correspondent (presumably a member of the noted firm of solicitors), 'or some other discreet and learned person, had seen the portrait [owned by Freshfield?] in its quite untouched condition. The eyes are not of the usual long heavy lidded kind, and the mouth is rather "restored," I think. | It should be of 1579, when Mary was allowed to send presents to James VI, which he was not allowed to accept.

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on aged paper. Reads 'The Duke of Portland presents his Compliments to Dr. Taylor, and has the honor to acquaint him that he will be very proud of the honor of being elected a member of the Society of Arts -'.

Two pages, 12mo. Good, with minor effects of damp. Text clear and entire. Twenty-five lines. Harraden has found an old acquaintance, Mrs Charles Routledge ('the widow of the son of Colonel Robert Warne Routledge'), in 'very distressing circumstances; she had been very ill from blood poisoning in the leg, had been in hospital, & in the work house'. Mrs Routledge has 'done her very best [...] to fight an adverse fate', working hard 'as a house keeper, maid of all work, servant of lodging house'.

4to: 48 + [3] pp of letterpress, with additional leaf after title of 'Errata of Letter Press' and 'Errata in Plates'. Twenty numbered plates (the first two transposed), including one fold-out, and a final seventeen full-page unnumbered plates ('Examples'). Apparently complete. In original brown quarter binding, with cloth spine and paper boards. Ownership inscription of 'Lady Rolle' (1796-1885, born Louisa Barbara Trefusis) on front board. Text clear and complete. On aged and lightly-spotted paper, with wear to extremities and wraps, and cloth spine torn and worn.

Cartoonist and illustrator. Folio, boards nearly detached, 84 pages of drawings, including nudes, male torsos, heads, some comic. "No.4" written on first page. (Item purchased some years ago from the booksellers who bought Bentley's library - Waterfields).) An early sketchbook from the artist who illustrated T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats"

8vo: 2 pp. Fifty lines. Text clear and complete, on two pieces of aged and spotted paper, with rust spots from paperclip. Untitled. Begins: 'I should like to see Chesterton as Lord Rector of a university which stands for Liberal thought. Some people, limited in imagination and hostile to unconventional character, would as soon give their votes to a modern Don Quixote who by some miracle has acquired the corporeal structure of his own Sancho Panza.

Landscape 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Murdoch appears to have been 'misinformed as to Professor Murray having promised to write an article in support of Mr. G. K. Chesterton.' Murray is 'unable to undertake any more writing' as he is 'extremely busy at present'. According to Mair's entry in the Oxford DNB, from 1922 to 1927 she was employed by Gilbert Murray as his secretary-assistant in League of Nations affairs. Murdoch is not named, but the item comes from a batch of his correspondence relating to Chesterton's unsuccessful 1925 candidacy for the Rectorship of Glasgow University.

Two foolscap (32.5 x 20.5 cm) pages. Seventy-three lines of text. On two pieces of aged paper, with wear at head and foot. Text clear and complete. A witty and light-hearted endorsement of Chesterton's candidacy, beginning 'Rumour reaches me that my name & my past misdeeds h[ave]. b[ee]n astonishingly flung into the Rectorial arena. Things that I said in my haste or my leisure long years ago about the candidates [Chesterton, Chamberlain and Webb] h[ave]. b[ee]n. dragged into the light to exalt this one & prejudice that. [...] Mr. Chamberlain's presence is sufficient & Mr.

4to, 1 p. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper with minor spotting to extremities. He thanks him for his letter. 'The main drawback to my accepting your most interesting invitation is that my political views are not those of Mr G. K. Chesterton, so I am very much afraid that a literary contribution from me might prove more of a hindrance than a help. I am so sorry.' Murdoch edited the magazine 'G.K.C.' which campaigned on behalf of Chesterton's unsuccessful candidacy. (Sir Austen Chamberlain was elected Rector.)

12mo, 1 p. Twelve lines. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He has had Murdoch's letter 'lying by me in the hope that I might meet someone here who knew G.K.C., or knew his work well enough to tell me something of interest - for, alas, I must confess to ignorance'. As he has not been 'fortunate', he abandons 'hope of contributing to your Rectorial Magazine'. Murdoch edited the magazine 'G.K.C.' in support of Chesterton's unsuccessful candidacy.

8vo: [ii] + 18 pp. In worn original buff wraps with white printed label on front. Clear and complete. On aged, damp-stained paper. Presentation copy, with note on title-page: 'To John Lee Esqre. L.L.D. | with the Author's kind regards.' Ownership inscription of 'J. Lee. Hartwell. 3 May 1856.' also on title. Scarce.The only copies on COPAC at the British Library and the Society of Antiquaries.

12mo: 27 pp. Stapled. In original brown printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged paper with rusted staples. Divided into five sections: 'Our Ancestry', 'Our Father', 'Our Mother', 'Montacute' and 'The Children'. A scarce item, the only copies on COPAC being at the British Library, Cardiff and St Andrews.

On piece of paper 6 x 9.5 cm. Lightly-aged, and tipped-in onto front free endpaper removed from book. A simple design, within a restrained decorative border, consisting of 'William Barnes.' in gothic letters in an arch, centred above a wavy rule beneath which are the words (adapted from the Dream of the Rood) 'BEARNAS AER BEORNAS.' A contemporary note on the endpaper beneath the bookplate (transcribed in a modern hand above it) states that the item came from Barnes's Rectory Sale, 25 November 1886. Uncommon.

12mo: [iv] + 35 pp. In original green cloth printed wraps. Text clear and complete. On aged high-acidity paper, and with four staple holes throughout. Creasing to front wrap and slight loss at head of title (not affecting text). In the 'Editor's Preface' (p.iii, dated 'V. TCHERTKOFF.

All twenty-eight items with text clear and complete on lightly aged paper, the only damage being light wear to the second leaf of Item 27, causing slight loss to six lines of text. All items signed by Brighouse 'H. B.'This collection represents a substantial correspondence by a significant literary figure.

12mo: 40 pp. Disbound. Good, on lightly aged paper. Contemporary ownership inscription of 'William Francklyn" on title-page. This edition is scarce: no copy in the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at Liverpool.

8vo: [ii] + 70 pp. Internally sound and tight, on lightly-aged paper. In worn contemporary burgundy quarter-binding with heavily-worn spine, recased with repair to rear endpapers. COPAC lists an entry for a copy in Cambridge University Library described as 'Probably the Lithographic facsimile by H.J. Bellars. London, reprinted 1861'.

A bibliographical landmark: the first issue of the first volume in Pickering's series of 'Diamond Classics' 32mo: [ii] + 185 + [i] + [i]. Engraved frontispiece portrait of 'Horace' by R. Grave, facing engraved titlepage, which precedes the letterpress titlepage. On the reverse of the leaf with p.185 on its recto is a portrait of Sir Francis Bacon, captioned 'Advancement of Learning.' On the page facing this are the 'Corrigenda.' Tight copy, on aged paper, with a few dogeared pages, in contemporary black russia binding with boards and spine ornamented in gilt and title 'HORATIUS'.

2 vols, 12mo. Vol.1: viii + 264 pp. Vol.2: viii + 336 pp. Complete, with all the engravings of sheet music listed in the contents (vol.1: five two-page plates and one four-page plate, with one more piece of music 'printed with the letterpress'; vol.2: one two-page plate). Both volumes good and tight, on lightly-aged and spotted paper. In worn contemporary half-calf binding, marbled boards, with the first volume rebacked. Each volume with bookplate of Frederic Perkins, Chipstead Place, Kent.

8vo: 80 pp, paginated 13-92. Stapled. In original grey printed wraps. Clear and complete. On aged and spotted high-acidity paper, with rusting from staples. In worn and spotted wraps. 2 cm closed tears to back wrap and outer margins of last two leaves. Pencil note on inside of back cover that a copy of the same item sold by Hodgkins for £30 in March 1986. From the collection of the Scottish anarchist author H. T. Derrett, and with his ownership inscription and date on front wrap. Illustrated.

All four items printed on both sides of a piece of paper roughly 57 x 25 cm, folded twice to make 6 pp, each 19 x 25 cm. Aged and a little grubby and creased. The second number with title printed in red, the third with title in green, and fourth with title in blue. Each with engraving of park with neo-classical buildings by William McLaren. No.1: poems by Lewis Spence, R. L. Cook, Joe Corrie, W. H. Hamilton, Alexander Buist, A. V. Stuart, Hugh N. Maclachlan, A. A. C. Blackie, Dorothy Margaret Paulin and Helen B. Cruikshank. No.2: poems by William Soutar, Alexander Buist, A. V.