Autograph Letters

Five Autograph Letters Signed and four Typed Letters Signed (all 'J Paterson Ross') to Noon.

Author: 
Sir James Paterson Ross (1895-1980), Professor of Surgery at St Bartholomew's Hospital London, and Surgeon to the Royal Household [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon, Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
Between 1951 and 1955; six on St Bartholomew's Hospital letterhead and three on that of Ross's Oakleigh Park address.
£225.00

Five of the nine items in 4to, and the rest 12mo. All texts clear and complete. Collection in good condition on lightly-aged paper. Occasional minor traces of brown-paper mounts, and most items with punch-holes to top left-hand corners. A cordial correspondence between two colleagues. Several letters relate to Noon's soon Charles, training under Ross to be a surgeon. On 26 June 1952 (12mo, 3 pp) Ross writes discussing the son's failure in an examination..

Typed Letter Signed ('Douglas Harmer') to Noon.

Author: 
William Douglas Harmer (1873-1962), surgeon, of St Bartholomew's Hospital, pioneer in radium treatment of throat cancer [Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
19 November 1945; The Radium Institute (on his cancelled Harley Street letterhead).
£56.00

4to, 1 p. Nineteen lines. Text clear and complete. On aged paper with slight staining, and punch hole to top left-hand corner. Pressing the claims of his son Michael ('also a Bart's man') for a post at Noon's hospital. 'He has done very well at Bart's, is a Fellow of the College, missed M.Ch. (Cambridge) by a few marks just before the war, was Harold Wilson's Assistant for the first two years and has been Squadron Leader in the Air Force in charge of the surgical wards at a big hospital at Hoylake since.'

Autograph Note, in the third person, to Twining.

Author: 
Hugh Percy [Hugh Smithson] (1742-1817), 2nd Duke of Northumberland [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant]
Publication details: 
2 December 1799; Northumberland House, London.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. Good, aged paper, with traces of previous mount adhering to reverse. Reads 'The Duke of Northumberland presents his Compliments to Mr. Twining, & shall be glad to see him on Wednesday next at three o'clock. | Northd. House | Decr. 2d. 1799.' From the Twining family archive.

Typed Letter Signed ('Heneage Ogilvie') to Noon.

Author: 
Sir Heneage Ogilvie (1887-1971), British surgeon [Sir Hedley Atkins (1905-1983), Professor of Surgery at Guy's Hospital; Charles Noon (d.1957), senior surgeon to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital]
Publication details: 
5 February 1952; on letterhead with the addresses of his London residence and consulting room.
£56.00

4to, 1 p. Seventeen lines of text, clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with small area lacking in top left-hand corner. Concerning Hedley Atkins, who, '[a]s a Guy's man', Ogilvie is keen to have replace him on the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, from which he is retiring after sixteen years. The condition with which Ogilvie is related, Ogilvie's Syndrome, was first reported by him in 1948.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Y. Smythies') to Twining, including two translations of 'Bishop Lowth's Maria's Elegy'.

Author: 
Rev. William Yorick Smythies (1816-1910), husband of the Victorian novelist Mrs Gordon Smythies [née Harriette Maria Gordon] (1813-1883) [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant]
Publication details: 
17 October 1838; Colchester.
£95.00

4to, 3pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with slight loss to second leaf caused by opening of red wax seal (part of which still adheres), and minor nicking to edges. Begins: 'The task you set me was a task indeed [...] my first attempt at translation'. He comments on some of the difficulties involved ('The Cara so often repeated in the original is beautiful in repetition while it's angliciz'd Dear is so degraded by vulgar use').

Autograph Signature ('Clarendon')

Author: 
Thomas Villiers (1709-1786), 1st Earl of Clarendon, British Whig politician and diplomat
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

On piece of laid paper, 1 x 3.5 cm. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount on reverse, which is docketed in a nineteenth-century hand '1776'.

Autograph Card Signed ('Lauder Brunton') to unnamed male recipient.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton (1844-1916), Scottish physician
Publication details: 
1 October 1906; on letterhead of 10 Stratford Place, Cavendish Square.
£28.00

On one side of a 9 x 11 cm card. Lightly-aged, with minor rust-marks at head and slight creasing to one corner. He has forwarded the letter as requested.

Ten Typed Letters Signed and eight Autograph Letters Signed (four 'Guy S Wellby' and the rest 'Guy') from Wellby to Franklin, with an inventory and valuation, schedule, accounts and correspondence relating to Rogers' collection of snuff boxes.

Author: 
Guy Wellby, Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths' Company, adviser to Ian Fleming [D. and J. Wellby Ltd, Jewellers and Silversmiths, Garrick Street, London; Franklyn Rogers; snuff boxes]
Publication details: 
Wellby's letters between 1948 and 1967; on letterheads of D. and J. Wellby Ltd.
£200.00

The collection, consisting of 31 items in a variety of formats, is in very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with all texts clear and complete. Wellby's correspondence with Rogers (an affluent Kent businessman and farmer, collector and dabbler in the jewellery business) reflects a relationship at once businesslike and friendly, with items being offered by Wellby on behalf of his firm, and news of items consigned to the firm by Rogers. The personal element is apparent from the first.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jos: Thackwell') to Hayter.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Thackwell (1781-1859), English army officer [Sir William Goodenough Hayter (1792-1878), Liberal politician]
Publication details: 
2 February 1855; 16 Montague Square, London [United Services Club].
£56.00

12mo, 1 p. Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper. Written while Hayter was Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury under Palmerston. Thanking him for his letter, and informing him that he will be communicating Hayton's 'kindness' to William Ryan, who, he is sure, 'will gladly accept the appointment'.

Collection of correspondence from Elizabeth Arden Ltd to agents Franklyn and Doris Rogers, Messrs Titcumbs, Chatham, including an Autograph Letter Signed ('Elizabeth Arden') from Arden, and 40 Typed Letters Signed from director T. Gordon Yates.

Author: 
Elizabeth Arden [Florence Nightingale Graham (1878-1966)]
Publication details: 
Between 1942 and 1956; most items on the letterhead of the Elizabeth Arden Ltd British headquarters at 25 Old Bond Street, London.
£325.00

The collection of fifty-three Typed Letters Signed and six mimeographed circulars, in various formats, is in good condition on lightly-aged paper, with all texts clear and complete, and with a couple of items with closed tears. Providing an interesting sidelight into workings of the English branch of one of the twentieth-century's leading multinational corporations. Arden's letter (8vo, 1 p), dated 8 April 1955, is addressed to the Rogers' daughter 'Miss J. Rogers'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Samuel Hey') to Twining, giving details of an arson attack [on his church?].

Author: 
Samuel Hey (1739-1828), eccentric bibliophile vicar of Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire, known as 'The Hermit' [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant]
Publication details: 
17 January 1822; 'Steeple-Ashton near Trowbridge | Wiltshire'.
£85.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Forty-nine lines of text, clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In a neat, childish hand. Begins by asking for ten pounds to be paid to the bearer, Thomas Fairfax Carlile, on Hey's account. A 'hand bill' has been 'published on the occasion - but without effect', and fifteen of his 'near neighbours' have - 'without consulting me' - subscribed ten pounds each. 'A man was apprehended - but for want of sufficient evidence he was liberated to appear before the magistrate when called for, upon penalty of 40£.

Typed Letter Signed, in English, to R. W. C. Vail of the Roosevelt House Library and Museum, with typed invoice.

Author: 
Edouard Champion, Paris bookseller, publisher and autograph dealer, 'Seul Agent (France, Belgique, Suisse) du British Museum'
Publication details: 
Both items dated 11 July 1924, and both on his letterhead.
£125.00

Both items fair, on lightly-aged paper. Both with list of Champion's publications down the left-hand margin, and with the list continuing in the letter to the blank second page. Letter: 4to, 1 p. He is sending 'a few documents which I have so far collected' relating to the Marquis de Chamilly. 'It is a long time since I last heard from the ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, and am always at your entire disposal.' Invoice: Landscape 8vo. 12mo, 1 p. Containing five Chamilly letters, totalling 268 francs.

Autograph Note in the third person to Simco. With priced list (by Simco?) of engravings on reverse.

Author: 
John Chamberlaine (c.1745-1812), antiquary [John Simco (c.1749-1824), London bookseller]
Publication details: 
Brompton. Friday Morng' [c.1812?].
£95.00

12mo, 1 p. On bifolium. Good, on aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Mr. Simco | Warwick St. | Golden Square.' Asking Simco to send a book 'by the Bearer', as well as ' a remittance upon his account of Holbein', as 'he has some large payments to make at the beginning of next week'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Arthur Phillips') to W. N. de Mattos.

Author: 
John Arthur Phillips (1822-1887), mining engineer and metallurgist [Lyon Playfair, Baron Playfair (1818-1898), chemist]
Publication details: 
25 January 1853; on letterhead of 8 Upper Stamford Street, Blackfriars.
£75.00

12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper with some creasing and a short closed tear at foot. He sent his report (on 'Wurlich's patent ') to Dr Playfair on 15 December of the previous year. 'With him therefore is all the delay.' Docketed by de Mattos on reverse, including 'Read at Board on 27th Jany 1853'.

Autograph Letter, third person, in French, to "Monsieur Disderi", French photographer

Author: 
Duke of Nemours [Le Duc de Nemours]
Publication details: 
Bushy House, Bushy Park, Teddington, SW, 28 Nov. 1866
£120.00

Two pages, 8vo, bifolium, blank second leaf laid don on stiff paper, c.21 x 27cm, good condition.. He asks Disderi de lui envoyer deux collections des huit vues de Claremont [an earlier refuge in England] & Weybridge qu'il a fait en avril dernier, et un exemplaire du groupe general sur la pelouse de Claremont." He doesn't want the latter mounted but "l'autre collection doit etre montee sur carton." He asks for a "note au compte" made out to him. Note@ Apparently Disderi pioneered the carte de visite.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Edw. Baines') to 'Robt. <Scarbrow?>'.

Author: 
Sir Edward Baines [Edward Baines junior] (1800-1890), nonconformist English newspaper editor and Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
3 Queen Sq | 1st. June <year?>.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. In bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Difficult hand. He has not considered the question carefully, but his impression is that 'the Monopoly of the printing of the Holy Scriptures in Scotland and Ireland might cease by the Kings Printers not only without injuring but with benefit to the public'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('James Ramsden') to 'Mr Thompson'.

Author: 
Sir James Ramsden (1822-1896), civil engineer and first mayor of Barrow in Furness
Publication details: 
6 August 1882; on letterhead of Furness Abbey, Lancashire.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. On bifolium. In fair condition, lightly-aged and creased. Discussing arrangements for a meeting with Thompson before 14 August, the date of the 'Furness general meeting', after which he is going on 'a months cruise'.

Small archive of 22 Typed Letters Signed ('Frank Baines') and one Autograph Letter Signed, to G. K. Menzies, Secretary, Royal Society of Arts, with documents including a draft speech by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, with Baldwin's emendations.

Author: 
Sir Frank Baines (1877-1933), British architect, Director of Works, Her Majesty's Office of Works [Stanley Baldwin]
Publication details: 
1927 to 1928; on letterheads of the Director of Works, H.M. Office of Works, and 34, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, W.C.2. [London].
£450.00

The collection is in very good condition, on slightly aged and dusty paper. Several items bear the Society's stamp. An interesting and significant correspondence. The letters, in a variety of formats from 12mo to foolscap, are often long, and are written in an informal tone. Indicating Baines's deep involvement in the Society's affairs, they most significantly concern an appeal, organised by Baines on behalf of the Society, 'for the preservation of the cottage architecture of Great Britain', with the backing and involvement of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.

Autograph Letter Signed and franked (both 'Js Stuart Wortley') to the London booksellers Messrs Ridgeway.

Author: 
James Stuart-Wortley [James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie] (1776-1845), 1st Baron Wharncliffe, Conservative politician [James Ridgeway, Piccadilly bookseller]
Publication details: 
5 September 1835; Wortley.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of minor traces of stub adhering to one edge. Franked, with remains of red wax seal, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Messrs. Ridgeway | Piccadilly. | [signed] Js Stuart Wortley'. Giving instructions for the sending of newspapers to Wighill Park, Tadcaster, and to Wortley.

Small collection of material relating to 'Music Today', comprising two advertisements, the programme for the inaugural concert, and a Typed Letter Signed from Hamilton to V. W. A. Conn, with the autograph draft of Conn's letter to Hamilton.

Author: 
Iain Hamilton (1922-2000), Scottish composer, chairman of the 'Music Today' contemporary music programmes, held in the Royal Festival Hall Recital Room [Samuel Beckett]
Publication details: 
All items dating from 1960.
£165.00

For more information relating to this influential series of concerts, see 'Pursuit: The Uncensored Memoirs of John Calder' (2001). Seven items, including two duplicates. Text of all items clear and complete. In fair condition, but with one side of a duplicate advertisement heavily sunned (see below). ONE: Typed Letter Signed ('Ian Hamilton') from Hamilton to Conn (husband of the poet Jeanne Conn), 12 February 1960. 4to, 1 p. Eighteen lines. Responding to Conn's criticisms, explaining reasons for cutting short discussion and cancelling part of the programme, and giving future plans.

Autograph Signature ('P. B. Du Chaillu').

Author: 
Paul Du Chaillu [Paul Belloni Du Chaillu] (1835-1903), French-American traveller and anthropologist
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00

In pencil, on strip of paper roughly 2.5 x 13 cm. Laid down on piece of card. On lightly-aged and creased paper, with small tear close to the right of the signature.

Autograph Letter Signed ('C Fane') to G. Joy, discussing the reform of the Court of Chancery.

Author: 
Robert George Cecil Fane (1796-1864), English Judge, as Commissioner of the Court of Bankruptcy [Court of Chancery]
Publication details: 
19 August 1844; Court of Bankruptcy.
£300.00

12mo, 3 pp. Thirty-three lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of mount on reverse of second leaf, which is docketed 'C. Fane to G. Joy | 19 Augt. 1844'. A significant and interesting letter, on a topic later tackled by Dickens in 'Bleak House', by a judge who was an active member of the Law Amendment Society, and whose decisions, according to his entry in the Oxford DNB, 'were frequently the subject of comment', although 'very few of his judgments were reversed on appeal'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Thos Dick Lauder') to William Mitchell of Parsons Green.

Author: 
Sir Thomas Dick Lauder of Fountainhall (1784-1848), Deputy Lieutenant of Moray and Haddington, Scottish writer and academic
Publication details: 
7 January 1840; The Grange House.
£75.00

4to, 3 pp. Bifolium. 61 lines of text; clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper. Having recovered from 'the surprise which I received from the communication made to me today by our mutual friend Sir James Gibson Craig', his 'first idea was to go directly to Parsons Green to give full vent to my gratitude' for Mitchell's generosity. The rest of the letter gives fulsome expression Lauder's his feelings at 'the generous - the magnificent gifts' (unspecified) which Mitchell is 'dispensing - with so little parade'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('W. M. Bucknall') to MacLehose

Author: 
W. M. Bucknall [William Miles Bucknall], Librarian to the Board of Trade [James MacLehose (1811-1885), Glasgow bookseller and publisher]
Publication details: 
10 January 1861; on Board of Trade letterhead.
£35.00

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Discussing 'Mr Sterling's Pamphlet on Banks', which MacLehose has sent him ('a work so difficult to obtain elsewhere'). While not recognising 'the existence of any really national Banking System', he considers Sterling's 'remarks most judicious'. Mentions the Banking Act of 1844, before concluding with a reflection on credit. Bucknall published his 'Catalogue of the Library of the Board of Trade' in 1866.

Typed Letter Signed ('G. R. Hall Caine') to Sir Thomas Moore of Hatchards bookshop, regarding 'the rehabilitation of this business'.

Author: 
Gordon Ralph Hall Caine [G.R. Hall Caine](1884-1962), Chairman and Managing Director, Argosy & Sundial Libraries Limited, of London and Liverpool [son of the novelist Hall Caine (1853-1931)]
Publication details: 
23 June 1947; on Argosy & Sundial letterhead.
£95.00

8vo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. On creased and lightly-aged paper. He is glad that Sir Thomas appreciates 'the seriousness of our position', and the reasons for asking Hatchards 'to release Mr. Edgeley to us for approximately six months in order to enable him to concentrate mainly upon the rehabilitation of this business'. Not a minor matter; according to one source the firm had '2,217 branches and 1.3 million books in circulation by 1934'.

Typed Letter Signed to "Sydney Gutman. The Bermondsey Book[shop]".

Author: 
Frank Harris, author
Publication details: 
C/o The American Express Company, 2 rue du Congres, Nice. A.M. December 15, 1925.
£235.00

One page, 4to, punchholes, edges discoloured, mainly good condition. Two small additons in his hand. He thanks Gutman for his cheque and order for "three sets of Oscar Wilde" of which he can immediately supply two, the other to come from storage. One copy sent is the "Brentano's edition of New York" and he wonders if Gutman would prefer "my German editon. He has written to "Heath" [bookseller, partner of Gutman's] about copies of James Thomson's poems on his hands.

Autograph Letter Signed to "Dr [John?] Bowring". 5 Millman Street, London.

Author: 
Thomas Dick Lauder.
Publication details: 
Relugas, 15 June 1830.
£250.00

Author (see DNB). Six pages, 4to, with hole and chip causing small loss of text, some staining, pahes attached at margin, obscuring a word or two, text clear. Profuse thanks for his "kind letter from the canal" and a later note and present. He enjoyed his short visit, regretting the loss of a day when he attended "the wrangling of a dull county meeting". More on his enjoyment of his company, and hope that he'll fulfil his promise to visit again. He goes on: "A change . . .

Autograph Letter Signed to his former pupil Richard Twining, with a transcription in Twining's hand.

Author: 
Samuel Parr (1747-1825), schoolmaster and classical scholar [Richard Twining (1772-1857), tea merchant]
Publication details: 
11 February 1824; Hatton.
£95.00

8vo, 2 pp. Leaf dimensions 21 x 16.5 cm. On good wove paper. 29 lines. Text clear and complete. On the first leaf of the bifolium, with the transcription, presumably by Twining, on the recto of the second. Addressed by Parr to Twining at Devereux Court in the Strand, on the reverse of the second leaf, which carries Parr's broken seal in red wax, and a postmark. In good condition, though a little grubby. Parr's handwriting is legendarily bad (he received a flogging at Harrow because of it, and never reformed), and although the transcriber has made a game effort, there are a few lacunae.

Autograph Letter Signed to "Mr Armstrong" [conceivably the industrialist]. With Autograph Note, initialled, also to Armstrong.

Author: 
Carl Peters [Karl Peters](1856-1918), German traveller in Africa
Publication details: 
Burlington, Eastbourne, 13 Sept. 1898 and no date [1890s].
£350.00

[1898 letter], 2pp., 4to, closed tear on fold but mainly good, text complete and clear. "Here the answer to that vicious article in the Desdener Zeitung" [perhaps he had enclosed a letter or article - no longer present]. He asks for a careful copy and that Armstrong sign it and send it to the newspaper. "They must publish it on the strength of p.11 of our press law" subject to legal penalty. It will make a betetr impression if you sign it as I have spoken in it of my own risks(subscription of £2000 etc.etc)".

Autograph Letter Signed ('G : A Galignani'), in Italian, to Twining. With signed receipt by Galignani, in Italian, for '18 Lezioni'.

Author: 
Giovanni Antonio Galignani (1757-1821), Paris bookseller and publisher of English works [Richard Twining (1772-1857), tea merchant]
Publication details: 
Letter: 'Venerdi mattina' (docketed with date 8 November 1796). Receipt dated 21 January 1797.
£800.00

Letter: 12mo, 1 p. On bifolium. Text clear and complete. On aged and ruckled paper. Slight damage to second leaf caused by breaking open of wafer. Addressed to 'Illustrissimo Signore'. Having 'un affare di qualche importanza alle nove', he would like to give Twining his lesson (presumably in Italian) the following morning at 8 o'clock. He hopes that coming half an hour early does not cause any inconvence. Receipt: on one side of a slip of paper, 7 x 19.5 cm. Headed 'Memorandum del Signor Twining'. For '18 Lezioni la prima delle quali fa data li 15 Novembee', and signed 'Galignani'.

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