Autograph Letters

Autograph Note initialled written by Hughes in the space above the beginning of another's letter to him (the reverse mentions a Mrs Morland, suggesting the correspondent is a Mr Morland), slightly grubby and signs of wear,c.6 x 1". An autograph collector has snipped the Hughes note off the letter (rest now lost) and stuck it in an album from which I have removed it. A date has been added in a different hand (1826) and the note runs as follows: "Be good enough to pay £5 for me to the Vaudois or Waldenses, at Hoare's [Bank]. They were the first germ of Protestantism.

12mo, 1 p. Thirteen lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and foxed paper with some fraying to edges (not affecting text). He would like to show Taylor 'something of interest with reference to Sir Herbert Taylor [sometime soldier and Private Secretary to teh KIng]' and suggests meeting that night. 'It seems rather late, but I shall be at von Herkomer's till then'.

8vo, 1 p. Eleven lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper, with a couple of spots from the leaf to which it was attached adhering to the blank reverse. Docketed at head in ink: 'Mem I know not to what application this refers.'; and at foot in pencil: 'Mem I was not the writer of the Letter referr'd to! | R T'. Eldon has received the recipient's letter, 'with a paper inserted from Mrs <?> Campbell or Clark. This paper is addressed to me under a very common Misapprehension of the Chancellors powers & duties'.

Total 5pp., 8vo, one sl.marked but mainly good condition. [March 23] He commiserates on "domestic troubles" and says what a disaster it would have been if the completion of a picture had been delayed. "You will be sorry to hear that I am confiend to the house with varicose veins in the leg. The trouble has arisen through bicycling, a maniac of the wheel having induced me to scorch over half a county with him. I am consequently obliged to give up the treat I promised myself in seeing your pivture at your studio but I mean to ahe- honour the Academy with a visit . . .

One page and two pages, both 8vo, bifolia, some staining but text clear and complete. In the first letter to which (as he explains in the second letter) he didn't add his name, he says that he visited "your Bovey Coal Pits" as a geologist (!), made observations and concluded that it was a "real Coal district, the current coal mined [an internet site informs me of poor quality] being of a "comparatively recent formation". Real coal was produced in an earlier period.

Three pages, 4to, but cross-written, making six pages of writing, sometimes hard to read, small piece of letter with a few words detached but present. Mrs Hughes is her usual informative, authoritative, lively and intelligent self, initially discussing the British disaster at Buenos Ayres. being unable to think of "a worse planned or more ill-fated expedition" in which the dead were "sacrificed". She attacks the commander, the Duke of York, in no uncertain terms: she hopes it's not a crime to wish him out of a world to which he he'd done so little good.

12mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. From the context of other items in the same collection, this letter relates to an 'Artists general Benevolent Banquet' (for which Dollman was acting as steward). Blomfield would be pleased to join Dollman, but has 'already promised my subscription to Pomeroy' (presumably acting as steward for a rival dinner). Addressed to Dollman at Hove House, Newton Grove, Bedford Park.

8vo, 1 p. Nine lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged and lightly-spotted paper, lightly-creased and with small closed tears at edges of central crease. From the context of other items in the same collection, this letter relates to an 'Artists general Benevolent Banquet' (for which Dollman was acting as steward). Hassall writes that the previous year he 'got into trouble through giving subscriptions to stewards of other society's than the R[oyal]. I[nstitution].', so that 'if there's to be an R. I. table this year I must support it for all I'm worth'.

Archaeological surveyor of India. 2pp., 8vo. He discusses the personnel of the Survey, the senior position to be filled, and what he would do if he were in charge. (He was Director General from 1886 to 1889.)

(Wyndham) Statesman and man of letters, at the time of this letter Chief Secretary fo Ireland (see DNB). Three pages, 4to, good condition, draft with much working over. He appreciates being given detailed grounds for a proposal that Sir Anthony Macdonnell [MacDonnell, Antony Patrick, Baron MacDonnell, statesman, of Irish origin] , currently working with Wyndham in Ireland might be made available in the Indian Council, a matter of urgency. He explains at length his high opinion of Macdonnell (energy, ability, distinction, etc.) and his reluctance to part with him.

Two pages (but large handwriting), 8vo, conjoined leaves, good condition. "I write to thank you most sincerely, for your kind letter about my picture. I think it was very kind indeed to trouble to write. I appreciate it very much."

On piece of paper roughly 2.5 x 7.5 cm. Mounted on piece of 7.5 x 13 cm card. In fair condition, with both card and paper aged and slightly discoloured. Good firm underlined signature ('W E Gladstone'). The card carries the following caption, in a contemporary hand: 'Autograph of | The Right Honorable William Ewart Gladstone, M.P., | Premier Minister and | Chancellor of the Exchequer.'

Part of a letter, cut away for an autograph collector, roughly 5.5 x 10.5 cm. The recto carries the franked address, trimmed close, reading 'London July twenty 1835. | Roundell Palmer Esq | Mixbury | Birmingham [corrected in another hand to 'Magdalen Colle | Oxford'], signed in bottom left-hand corner 'W E Gladstone'.

4to, 1 p. Text clear and complete. On aged, sunned paper, with some chipping and closed tears to edges. He may not 'be able to get to the Com[mon] Coun[ci]l' as he is 'engaged on the Rota at the Old Baily this week'. He will be at a Court of Aldermen at the Guildhall at one o'clock, and if the recipient and other members of the Council cannot be there a quarter of an hour before, he will 'come out to you'.

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Gives the date of a dinner with 'Mr. & Mrs. Thompson & family', to which he invites Dillon and his wife.

4to, 1 p. On cream paper with letterhead printed in green. Fair, on lightly spotted and creased paper. She cannot make an appointment for an interview 'for various reasons [...] The chief reason being that I do not give interviews'. Owston-Booth was a contributor to the Windsor Magazine.

The front cover of the envelope, 9.5 x 12 cm, cut away and laid down on a ruled piece of paper cut from an autograph album. A little grubby, but good. Reads 'L N Guillemard Esq | 11 Downing St. | [signed] W E Gladstone'. Signature approximately 4.5 cm long, and underlined.

Text of both letters clear and complete, on aged, grubby paper. The 'Diehards' were a group of right-wing Conservative peers who attempted unsuccessfully to thwart Liberal legislation to limit the right of veto of the House of Lords over Commons legislation. (See G. D. Phillips, 'The Diehards: Aristocratic Society and Politics in Edwardian England', Cambridge, Mass., 1979.) TYPED LETTER: 17 December 1913. 4to, 1 p. He is going to try to write the history of the affair '[b]efore things fade altogether from my memory', and asks if OG has 'any papers, or letters, or diaries'.

12mo, 1 p. On aged and creased paper. He has autographed the picture sent by Livingstone, and is returning it.

16mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Thirteen lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged paper with heavy staining to outer pages. Clarifying the position regarding 'new editions with additions'. The Bodleian is entitled to copies of these, 'unless the additions are separate - then we can only claim the new matter'. Explains that the Library's 'agent in London', Eccles of Great Russell Street, 'receives for us, or collects, as it may be the of the Publishers'. Docketed in pencil in a contemporary hand on the blank reverse of the second leaf.

4to, 1 p. On piece of watermarked laid paper. Thirteen lines of text. Clear and complete. Good, on aged paper, with thin strip of stub adhering to blank reverse. Docketed at head, in a contemporary hand, '331 | Lord Camelford for fac simile'. Camelford was not at home when Buchan called, but he 'will take care that his Lordship's Letter shall be transmitted to Mr Pitt [his cousin William Pitt the younger?]'. Pitt 'will doubtless feel himself flatter'd with his Lordship's testimony in favour of his abilities and fortitude'.

12mo, 2 pp. Fifteen lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and stained paper, with 3.5 cm closed tear in gutter, corner torn with no loss of text. Addressed, with postmark and remains of red wax seal, on reverse of second leaf. Docketed 'Lady Mary Ross | Park Lane 31 March 1830 | ans. 17 Apl'. Her neighbour 'Mr Wyndham Lewis' is 'In a fidget, as to Insurance'. She hopes it has been regularly paid, and 'must trust to yr not allowg it to be neglected'. She believes the insurance is 'for the House only & that I did not wish furniture'. According to the 'Survey of London', No.

12mo, 4 pp. Bifolium. 58 lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged paper, with the outer pages grubby and stained. The delay in replying to Welford's letter is due to the fact that it 'fell aside in Edinburgh and did not reach my hands until lately'. 'I was engaged in a veryy subordinate capacity on Taits Magazine when the shilling series commenced - and for some years - and again had it as my own property from 1846 to 1850 and have had it again for some years; yet I do not remember having ever seen a notice in the Newcastle Chronicle'.

4to, 2 pp. Thirty lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. One closed tear and minor traces of mount to extremities. An interesting letter, casting light on the relationship between bookseller and knowledgeable client in Georgian England. He gives the conditions under which he would be interested in buying a few items from the booksellers monthly catalogue.

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Fair, on aged paper with a little light staining. The recto carries the seventeen-line letter to a 'Gentilissima Dama', in response to a request for an autograph. On the reverse of the second leaf is a four-line poem, signed and dated by Negri, beginning 'Come un Nume che si adora'. In the letter Negri writes that he does not have 'la presunzione di credere che il mio autografo meriti di essere conservato'.

4to, 2 pp. Thirty-nine lines of text. Clear and complete. Neatly and closely written. Begins by discussing two books recommended by Bower: Otto Hammann's 'World Policy of Germany' and a work by Sir Francis Younghusband. Hammann's book 'confirms what Sir Sidney Lee writes about the Kaiser's telegram'; he is pleased that Younghusband's, which he has not yet read, contradicts the story that 'Lord Ripon was prepared for such drastic measures'. He has been 'correcting the proofs of the 600-page history of South Africa which I undertook to write for Longmans Green five or six years ago'.

Dimensions roughly two and a half inches by four and a half wide. Clear, bold signature on aged paper. Reads '<...> believe me Gill's friend as well as your own | [signature] Charlotte H Dolby'. Reverse reads '<...> says, because I get mixed up with such a lot of people, and lose my individuality in the <...>'.

Four pages, 8vo, vestiges of an album page on final page, text clear and complete. He is sending some MSS. to be bound up, giving detailed instructions. He reminds Andrews of previous work, and insists on secrecy. He asks him to post (and pay for) a "foreign letter", and asks "how the Opera succeeds & if the men singers are liked. In a postscript he asks for the third volume of "Johnson's Life" since he has nearly finished the second.

The nature of this somewhat Pooterish 'scandal' is explained in one of the cuttings in the scrapbook: '[...] the Unionists of North Lambeth are making secret but strenuous efforts to insure the return of Mr. H. M. Stanley at the next election.

4 pages, 8vo. Creased and grubby but in good condition overall. Interesting letter in difficult hand. Opens by sending his deepest sympathy: 'I can sympathise having as you know been personally damaged by a falling branch last Xmas.' 'Officially we have given up contradicting the <?> prevalent rumours of Russian Troops moving through Great Britain. The Germans may hear of the rumours - may believe them: [^ that may do good;] but there is no truth in them at all. Barring a few Russian reservists who were in this country no Russian troops have been sent to France.