Literature

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[Facsimile; printed; Walter Scott Jr] Letters exchanged by Sir Walter Scott (Jr.) and John Younger, shoemaker of St Boswells

Author: 
[Sir Walter Scott (Jr) and John Younger, Shoemaker]
Publication details: 
Abbotsford, Thursday [28 Sept. 1837] , 29 Sept. 1837 and 4 Oct. 1837.
£80.00

Four pages, 4to, bifolium, minor staining, fold mark, mainly good condition. Sir Walter orders a pair of boots for fishing, giving full detail of dimensions etc. John Younger, boot/shoe maker, saying first of all how long it takes and what steps he'd altready taken (29 Sept.) and then giving instructions on how to use and maintain the boots (including a response to Walter Scott's revelation that he wears worsted stockings under large boots. I'm informed that this was supposed to have been pasted into a copy of Younger's Autobiography (as it was into the NLS copy).

[Chapman & Hall] Autograph Note Signed 'J. York' with note in response written and signed by "Fred[eric] Chapman Manager,

Author: 
[Chapman & Hall, Dickens' publishers] J. York
Publication details: 
[Headed] 87 Lancaster Road, Notting Hill, w [London], 2 Sept. 1881 [Frederic Chapman's note date 24 Sept. 1881].
£35.00

One page, 8vo, good condition. [J. York] "Gent[leme]n | Please favour me with a reply to my application to publish extracts from Old Curiosity Shop for use with Magic Lantern. I fear it has escaped your notice." Frederic Chapman has added his note to the foot of the page, "If you acknowledge that you have our permission as you did before, you may publish the Extracts."

[Rupert Brooke; booklet] 1914 by Rupert Brooke set to music for Chorus and Organ, or Orchestra

Author: 
Alan Gray, composer
Publication details: 
Novello and Company Limited; New York: The H.W. Gray Co [1919? see COPAC]
£180.00

24pp., cr. 8vo, grey printed paper wraps, partially detached, creased and and worn, with two stains on front cover, largest 3/4"dia, contents aged but good. Tow copies listed on COPAC/WorldCat (both BL), i.e. very scarce.

[Pamphlet] Postscript to the sixth volume of the Pictorial Edition of the Works of Shakspere; detailing the Plan for the Completion of that Publication, and announcing A New Library Edition, edited by Charles Knight.

Author: 
[William Shakespeare] Charles Knight & Co.
Publication details: 
[London, 1842].
£80.00

[16]pp., 8vo, discreet stab-holes, good condition. Presumably this item was once bound in to an issue of a periodical. Four copies are listed on COPAC/WorldCat.

[Handbill] Prospectus of a New Periodical Work. The Ist Number of which will be published on the Ist February 1820. The Plain Englishman's Library.

Author: 
[Charles Knight & Son, Windsor]
Publication details: 
F.C. & J. Rivington, St Paul's Churchyard and Waterloo Place, London; and Charles Knight & Son, Castle-Street, Windsor, [1819/1820]
£90.00

Two pages, disbound from periodical with original wraps (before binding volume), 8vo, sl.chipped and browned edges, text complete.

[Thomas Crofton Croker, Irish antiquary.] Autograph Letter Signed ('T. Crofton Croker') to Sir Francis Palgrave, giving an excuse for not replying to a dinner invitation.

Author: 
Thomas Crofton Croker (1798-1854), Irish antiquary and civil servant [Sir Francis Palgrave (1788-1861), born Francis Ephraim Cohen, English historian]
Publication details: 
Admiralty [Whitehall, London]. 16 January 1827.
£120.00

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper, with a closed tear along a fold line unobtrusively repaired with archival tape. Addressed at foot to 'F. Palgrave Esqr' (he would not be knighted until 1832), beside which Palgrave has written: 'Mr. Crofton Croker. | Author of Fairy Legends of the South of Ireland &c.' The text of the letter reads: 'My dear Sir | I ought to apologize for not replying to your invitation for Wednesday evening last. - My excuse must be that I did not return to town until yesterday and that your note reached me on Friday at Brighton.'

[Sir Robert Howard, restoration playwright.] Autograph Treasury receipt, signed 'Ro: Howard'.

Author: 
Sir Robert Howard (1626-1698), English playwright and politician and Secretary to the Treasury
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£180.00

On one side of slip of 6 x 18 cm paper. In fair condition, aged, and with traces of mount adhering to reverse. Apparently concerning an enormous sum of money, the receipt reads: 'Registered upon the Register appointed to be kept by the Act within mentioned & payable there upon of

[Two printed works bound together.] Hamilton's 'An Inquiry into the Genuineness of the Manuscript Corrections in Mr. J. Payne Collier's Annotated Shakspere' and 'Mr. J. Payne Collier's reply to Mr. N. E. S. Hamilton's "Inquiry"'.

Author: 
N. E. S. A. Hamilton [Nicholas Esterhazy Stephen Armytage Hamilton (d.1915)] of the Manuscript Department of the British Museum; John Payne Collier (1789-1883), Shakespearian critic and forger
Publication details: 
Hamilton: London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1860. Payne Collier: London: Bell and Daldy, 186 Fleet Street. 1860.
£200.00

Both works first editions, and both in good condition, on aged paper. Bound together in late nineteenth-century red cloth half-binding, with marbled boards. Title on spine: 'COLLIER CONTROVERSY | H.R.H. | 1919'. Hamilton title in full: 'An Inquiry into the Genuineness of the Manuscript Corrections in Mr. J. Payne Collier's Annotated Shakspere, Folio, 1632; and of certain Shaksperian Documents likewise published by Mr. Collier'. [4] + 155pp., 4to. With frontispiece and two plates, one of them double-page. Collier title in full: 'Mr. J. Payne Collier's reply to Mr. N. E. S.

[Printed booklet by K. M. Briggs.] Stories Arranged for Mime | By K. M. Briggs | Number 2 | Whuppity Stoorie'

Author: 
K. M. Briggs [Katharine Mary Briggs] (1898-1980), English folklorist, author of the Dictionary of English Folk-Tales [Capricornus press, Dunkeld, Perthshire]
Publication details: 
Made and printed in Great Britain by Capricornus, Dunkeld, Perthshire. [No date.]
£35.00

[16]pp., 12mo. Stapled. In green printed wraps with illustration on cover. In very good condition, very lightly-aged with slight rusting to the two staples. The thirteen Capricornus items on COPAC indicate that the press was connected with K. M. Briggs, or at least with her family, who had moved to Perthshire with their father in 1911. Uncommon. Copac lists sets of the three volumes in the series at the British Library, National Library of Scotland and Oxford, and a single copy of this number at the National Library of Wales.

[Printed booklet by Elspeth Briggs, sister of the folklorist K. M. Briggs.] The Constant Gardener | A Play in One Act | By Elspeth Briggs'.

Author: 
Elspeth Briggs, sister of the folklorist K. M. Briggs [Katharine Mary Briggs] [Capricornus press, Dunkeld, Perthshire]
Publication details: 
Capricornus, Dunkeld, Perthshire. No date.
£35.00

36pp., 12mo. In cream printed wraps with illustration on the front cover. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper with slight spotting to covers. The thirteen Capricornus items on COPAC indicate that the press was connected with K. M. Briggs, or at least with her family, who had moved to Perthshire with their father in 1911. Uncommon. Copies on COPAC at the British Library, National Library of Scotland, Oxford and Trinity College Dublin.

[Anglo-Spanish author] Autograph Letter Signed "Telesforo de Trueba y Cosia" to an unnamed male correspondent (pencil note on second leaf says "To [William]Jerdan", the editor, about an article on "Spanish romance" for Colburn's "New Monthly".

Author: 
[Don Joaquín] Telesforo de Trueba y Cosio [Cozio/Cossio] (1798?-1835), Spanish (or Anglo-Spanish?) author.
Publication details: 
8 Leigh St, Burton Crescent, [London]1 Dec. (no year)
£750.00

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, tipped on to larger piece of paper, substantial, good condition.

[Printed pamphlet.] Tom Cladpole's Jurney To Lunnun; Shewing the many Difficulties he met with, and How he got safe Home at Last. Told by himself and written in pure Wessex Doggerel, By his Uncle Tim.

Author: 
'Uncle Tim' [Richard Lower (1782-1865)] ['Pure Wessex Doggerel'; Sussex dialect; Lewes]
Publication details: 
New Edition. Lewes: Printed and Published by Farncombe & Co., "East Sussex News." [Farncombe & Co., Printers, Lewes.]
£60.00

34 + [1]pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper, a little ruckled. Advertisement for 'Jan Cladpole's Trip to Merricur' ('Just published') on last page. A three-page preface is followed by the poem, in 152 four-line stanzas, with pp.33-34 carrying another poem titled 'Tom Cladpole's Return'. Surprisingly uncommon.

[Rev. Dr George Croly.] Autograph drafts of three passages from an anonymous article in Blackwood's Magazine entitled 'Russia', dealing with Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation as Emperor of the French. and his entry into and retreat from Moscow.

Author: 
Rev. Dr George Croly (1780-1860), Anglo-Irish clergyman and writer, editor of the Tory weekly The Constitution [Blackwood's Magazine, Edinburgh and London; Napoleon Bonaparte; Napoleonic Wars]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [Published in Blackwood's Magazine (Edinburgh and London, April 1826).]
£400.00

3pp., 8vo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. Unsigned, but certainly in Croly's hand. The first page is headed: '- for tho' the Old Law was established in the promises of temporal prosperity, yet the gospel is founded in temporal adversity'. The three extracts, fiercely critical of the French emperor, follow over a total of 61 lines, with a few minor emendations.

[Washington Irving's brother-in-law Henry Van Wart.] Signed bill, 'To Mess. P. Irving & Co | Merchants | Liverpool', 'In re Peter Irving & In re Washington Irving', carrying bankruptcy order; and Promissory Note; both payable to Messrs. Lewis C & Co.

Author: 
Henry Van Wart (1784-1873), American-born founder of the Birmingham Stock Exchange, England, and husband of Sarah Irving, sister of Washington Irving (1783-1859), American author and diplomat1
Publication details: 
Both items dated from Birmingham [England], the bill on 1 November 1816, and the promissory note on 1 July 1817. Both signed boldly by Henry van War
£1,000.00

 

[Harry Pirie-Gordon; Lawrence of Arabia] Autograph Letter Signed "HPG" AND Autog. Postcard Signed "Harry Pirie-Gordon" to Court [Stanley Court]. WITH: photographic copy of letter to Pirie-Gordon from a "stanley Court" [?], newspaper pages & cuttings

Author: 
Harry Pirie-Gordon [Pirie-Gordon, C. H. C. (Charles Harry Clinton) 1883-1969], foreign correspondent (The Times), soldier, secret agent, author, sometime friend of Baron Corvo (Frederick Rolfe)
Publication details: 
Letter (headed notepaper) and Postcard (Depicting Lawrence of Arabia) undated [1968? the year before his death]
£700.00

All items in good condition. ONE. ALS, 2pp. 8vo. He is responding to receipt of articles about Lawrence of Arabia (present - see below) with memories of encounters with Lawrence.

[George Robins, auctioneer.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo Robins') to the editor of the Morning Chronicle James Black, pushing for an article to be inserted in the paper, to tie in with his sale of the contents of Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill.

Author: 
George Robins [George Henry Robins] (1777-1847), celebrated London auctioneer [James Black (1783-1855), editor of the Morning Chronicle [Horace Walpole; Strawberry Hill]
Publication details: 
'Covent Garden [London] | Friday [1842]'.
£2,500.00

2pp., 12mo, bifolium. Very good, on lightly aged paper. The letter reads: 'Strawberry Hill is to the classic world much more important than the turmoil of everlasting Politics. It will be a little refreshing as a contrast to your readers to hear of Horace Walpole - the Inclosed is from Gallignani's Journal[.] in Paris they give a better attention to the Arts as well as the nuisance of everlasting Politics'. Postscript reads: 'Would you like to have a card to see'.

[Dr Samuel Parr, 'the Whig Doctor Johnson'.] Autograph Letter Signed ('S Parr') to the tea merchant Richard Twining, Senior.

Author: 
Dr Samuel Parr (1747-1825), schoolmaster and classical scholar [Richard Twining (1749-1824), Senior, tea and coffee merchant; his son Richard Twining (1772-1857), Junior]
Publication details: 
27 May [1807].
£56.00

1p., 12mo. 24 lines of text. In fair condition, on aged paper, with minor traces of mount adhering to reverse, which is addressed by Parr to 'R Twining, Senior, Esqre | Devereux Court | the Strand', and docketted 'Dr. Parr May 27th. 1807'.

[E. V. Lucas.] Copy of his book 'Charles Lamb and the Lloyds', marked up 'With corrections for Second Edition' in his autograph, with new preface and other additions loosely inserted.

Author: 
E. V. Lucas [Edward Verrall Lucas] (1868-1938), English author, publisher, and editor of Charles Lamb
Publication details: 
London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place. 1898.
£300.00

xiii + 297pp., with frontispiece and four plates, and six-page publishers' catalogue at end. Blocks of text have been cut out by Lucas, between pp.205 and 232, and the three leaves carrying pp.199-204 have been removed. Otherwise in good condition, in worn burgundy cloth binding, gilt. Lucas has written 'With corrections for Second Edition' at the head of the title page. (There was no second edition.) Emendations throughout in pencil and pen.

[Printed Book; authorial inscription etc] Discourses in America

Author: 
Matthew Arnold [ Lady Dorothy Neville, 'writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector']
Publication details: 
First edition. London, Macmillan and Co., 1885
£650.00

[xiv], 207pp., dark green cloth, corners bumped, mainly good to very good. A copy inscribed by Matthew Arnold to Lady Dorothy Neville, 'writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector', with a letter by Arnold concerning his gift of the book tipped in. Also with prined "From the Author" note enclosed (loose), a printed bookplate alleging "Stolen from Lady Dorothy Neville", and a newspaper clipping concerning Matthew Arnold's burial place tipped in. The letter from Arnold reads as follows: "Dear Lady Dorothy | The Fourth Party are excellent company, but Sunday is impossible for me.

[Mary Cholmondeley.] Autograph Letter Signed to fellow-novelist Frances Mary Peard

Author: 
Mary Cholmondeley (1859-1925), English novelist [Frances Mary Peard (1835-1923), English novelist, author of more than forty books]
Publication details: 
Hendon. 29 January [no year].
£56.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with short closed tear at head of second leaf. She begins: 'I was so disturbed and disappointed when I came in on Tuesday to find I had missed you. And I believe you had been kind enough to call when we ought to be, and almost invariably are in - after 4.

[Horace Voules, de facto editor of Henry Labouchère's satirical magazine 'Truth'.] Autograph Letter Signed to Robert Ababrelton

Author: 
Horace Voules, de facto editor of the satirical magazine 'Truth' [Henry Labouchère [Henry Du Pré Labouchère] (1831-1912), Conservative politician and writer
Publication details: 
On letterhead of "Truth" Buildings, Carteret Street, Queen Anne's Gate, London. 25 May 1897.
£40.00

1p., 12mo. On aged and marked paper. Addressed to Ababrelton at 1 Northumberlandn Avenue. He thanks him for the letter and its enclosure. 'We have received copies of the latter by the dozen and we shall probably be dealing with the matter either in this or next week's issue of "Truth."'

[Offprint; Uncle Tom's Cabin] Offprint of long review by Jane Williams of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'

Author: 
Jane Williams [Jane Williams Isgafell], Welsh historian, poet and feminist..
Publication details: 
'From the Star of Gwent of 6th November, 1852.'
£250.00

Offprint of long, learned and critical review by JW of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', 'From the Star of Gwent of 6th November, 1852.' 1p., folio. In three columns of small type. One autograph correction. Ascription at head: 'By Jane Williams ... Edwd. Williams'. Docketed on reverse 'Uncle Tom's Cabin | Review of by JW'. She starts off by saying that a reviewer would normally give information about the book as if the reader is unfamiliar, but "every one" is reading it.

[Frances Ridley Havergal, hymn writer.] Printed handbill poem titled 'Consecration Hymn. | "Yea, let Him take ALL." | 2 Samuel, xix. 20.', beginning 'Take my life, and let it be | Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.' Inscribed to Welsh writer Jane Williams.

Author: 
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879), English religious poem and hymn writer [Jane Williams [Jane Williams Ysgafell] (1806-1885), Welsh author]
Publication details: 
C. Caswell, 135, Broad-street, Birmingham. Undated, but dated in Havergal's inscription 19 January 1876.
£280.00

2pp., 12mo. Aged, creased and worn. This would appear to be the first printing of Havergal's best-known hymn. The poem is printed on one side, within a decorative border, and with the title in fancy type. Printer's slug at foot of page beneath border. The reverse is filled with biblical texts, under the heading 'Consecration.' Within the a similar border, beneath which: '25 copies, post-free 4d.' Havergal's inscription is at the head of the page bearing the poem: 'J. W. | From F. R. H. Jany 19, 1876.' No other copy traced, either on COPAC or WorldCat. From the Jane Williams papers.

[Chandos Leigh, 1st Baron Leigh.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Leigh') to 'Mr. Brodie', regarding a 'rather singular letter' he has received from one of his parishoners, offering his services as a shoemaker at a prison.

Author: 
Chandos Leigh (1791-1850), 1st Baron Leigh, of Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire, minor poet, cousin of Jane Austen and friend of Byron and Leigh Hunt
Publication details: 
57 Portman Square, London. 14 July 1849.
£150.00

3pp., 12mo. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. The recipient presumably held a living near Leigh's Warwickshire mansion Stoneleigh Abbey (said to be the model for Sotherton Court in his cousin Jane Austen's 'Mansfield Park'). Leigh apologises troubling Brodie 'with the enclosed rather singular letter which I have received from one of your Parishioners'.

[Allan Cunningham, Scottish Romantic poet.] Two Autograph Letters Signed, one to the tea merchant Richard Twining, recommending 'Mr Hopkins' of the Blue Coat School, and the other to Mrs Twining

Author: 
Allan Cunningham (1784-1842), Scottish Romantic poet and author [Richard Twining (1772-1857), tea merchant]
Publication details: 
Both letters from 27 Belgrave Place, London. Letter to Mrs Twining dated 1 October 1837; letter to Richard Twining dated 19 October 1838.
£90.00

Both letters signed 'Allan Cunningham'. ONE: Addressed to 'Mrs. Twining'. 1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper. He is 'well enough to accept' her invitation, and will pay his respects 'in Bedford Place at the time mentioned. I am glad that my excellent friend Mrs. Hughes is to be with you.' TWO: Addressed to 'Rd. Twining Esqr.' 1p., 12mo. On aged and worn paper, with nicking and creasing along edges. He thanks him for his 'obliging note' and has 'desired Mr. Hopkins to wait on you.

[Peter Levi, poet and Jesuit priest.] Holograph collection of nine poems, titled 'The Element', with signed autograph note from Dom Moraes explaining their background.

Author: 
Peter Levi [Peter Chad Tigar Levi] (1931-2000), Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford, 1984-1989, and Jesuit priest [Dom Moraes (1938-2004), Indian poet]
Publication details: 
Dated by Levi to the period November 1957 to January 1958. Moraes' note dated 10 June 1963.
£750.00

14pp., 4to. In exercise book with green printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. The first page carries the title 'The Element', with the words 'Peter Levi S.J. | Nov. '57-Jan. '58' in the top right-hand corner. With occasional light corrections. The second poem ('Out of shaking') has the directions: 'No title & no commas', and the last but one ('Unfinished Elegy'), which is the longest at 4pp., is annotated: 'There ought to be three parts or possibly four.

[Peter Levi, S.J., English poet.] Unpublished holograph poem ( 'P. L.') titled 'For Henrietta and Dom. | (December, 1960.)' Addressed to the Indian poet Dom Moraes and his wife Henrietta Moraes, lover of Lucien Freud and model for Francis Bacon.

Author: 
Peter Levi [Peter Chad Tigar Levi] (1931-2000), Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford and Jesuit priest [Dom Moraes (1938-2004), Indian poet; his wife Henrietta Moraes (1931-1999)]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. December 1960.
£280.00

2pp., foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. A fair copy of a twenty-eight line poem, arranged in seven four-line stanzas. Signed at end 'P. L. | December 1960.' The first stanza reads 'Rain-threaded gull-wheeling bell-clamorous air, | by wind shifted, by smoke lightly weighted, | in which sirens beautifully despair, | no monumnet crumbles uncelebrated,'. The poem ends with a simile of 'Adam when he woke: | stood for a moment as if he had been blind, | and bent suddenly over Eve, and spoke.' There is no indication that the poem has been published.

[Peter Levi, S.J., English poet.] Autograph Card Signed to the bookseller Eric Korn, with copies of his 'Three Poems' and the Jesuit bulletin 'To our friends', the latter with signed autograph note: 'This I did write & hideous [...] it is'.

Author: 
Peter Levi [Peter Chad Tigar Levi] (1931-2000), Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford and Jesuit priest
Publication details: 
Card postmarked from Campion Hall, Oxford, and with postmarked date 21 November 1971. Three Poems: Sycamore Press, 4 Benson Place Oxford; Spring 1970. 'To our friends': No. 33, April 1962; with note on letterhead of Heythrop College, Chipping Norton.
£200.00

The three items in good condition, with light age and wear. CARD: He has been told about Korn by 'Barbara and Cyril Connolly': 'Maybe we might meet, though I shall now be leaving England for a time. Do you ever have a catalogue? If so please put me on your list. I chiefly want classics & archaeology & (old) travels in Greece & Central Asia, but sometimes modern poetry. I am always at or c/o this address. Peter Levi.' THREE POEMS: Landscape 8vo, folded twice to make three panels. Printed in blue. The first poem is titled 'Riddle' and the other two are untitled.

[Holbrook Jackson archive] Aphorisms in Manuscript

Author: 
Holbrook Jackson, bibliophile and author
Publication details: 
[1874-1948]
£650.00

351 aphorisms by the journalist, writer, publisher and bibliophile George Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948), unpublished and all written out in autograph, on 13 x 20 cm slips made from the halving of 4to leaves from autograph and typewritten drafts of essays and correspondence.In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper.

Three autograph notes signed, and one autograph postcard initialled, to Sir Robert Hudson, political organiser (see DNB, and obviously a Johnsonian.

Author: 
R.W. Chapman
Publication details: 
( Park Town, Oxford, 1925
£950.00

Scholar (esp. Johnson and Austen studies) and University Publisher, 1881-1960, see DNB. Total 3 pages (excl. pc), 8vo and 4to. Subjects include (with quotations): writing on a train; misreading "The cup of your patience (p.29) as the CROP"; significant postscript, a nunc dimittis, "I have not lived in vain - I have negotiated the purchase of the Brit. Museum of all that survives of the MS. of Persuasion [underlined]"; (he obviously sends scripts to Hudson) "I have no present intention of printing this . . . It is possible [underlined] (I think very unlikely) that the Eng.

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