Printed Ephemera

[Alexander Pope, Augustan poet.] Two large facsimile pages, each reproducing a proof of a page (69 and 70) from Pope’s ‘Epistles’, with facsimile of his autograph corrections.

Author: 
Alexander Pope, Augustan poet; John Murray, London publishers
Pope
Publication details: 
The original dates from the 1730s. The present facsimiles are mid- to late Victorian, and probably the work of the London publishers John Murray.
£280.00
Pope

Curious items. Yale has the originals of these pages, in an ‘Album, formerly owned by John Murray, containing items either by Pope or related to him, 1717-1855’, described as ‘original proof of two pages from Pope's Epistles, pages 69 and 70, with the author's corrections’. Each of the present items is printed on a 28.5 x 37.5 cm leaf of wove paper. A previous owner(lord Houghton in fact) thought highly-enough of them to include them in an album, as a profession white stub adheres neatly at the left of each.

['The Father of British Physiology': William Sharpey, Professor at University College, London.] Autograph Signature on engraved ticket to his lecture on ‘Anatomy & Physiology’, made out for the microscopist Bernard Piffard.

Author: 
William Sharpey (1802-1880), Scottish anatomist and phyisologist ('the father of British physiology''), friend of Charles Darwin [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), entomologist]
Sharpey
Publication details: 
University College, London. The ticket is 'Renewed 1st Octr. 1861 Perpetual 1 Jany 1852 Session 1861-62.'
£100.00
Sharpey

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the Piffard papers. Signed ‘W Sharpey’ on ticket engraved in copperplate on one side of 15 x 10.5 cm card. In fair condition, a little worn and somewhat discoloured with age, and with short vertical crease to the left of the signature. Blind-stamped with ‘Treasury Seal’. The signature is at bottom right, with number of ticket (59) and the initials of the secretary ‘’ at bottom left. Attractively laid out, with text reading ‘University College, London. / Anatomy and Physiology. / William Sharpey, MD. / Professor. / Admit Mr.

[Sir Anthony Panizzi [Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi], Principal Librarian at the British Museum, London.] Autograph Signature to ornate printed copperplate receipt, completed to acknowledge a ‘Present’ by Bernard Piffard of Nova Scotia specimens.

Author: 
Sir Anthony Panizzi [born Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi in Italy] (1797-1879), Principal Librarian at the British Museum, London [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), entomologist; Nova Scotia]
Panizzi
Publication details: 
17 November 1858. On letterhead with royal crest of the British Museum, London.
£100.00
Panizzi

Now viewed in a favourable light, Panizzi was a controversial figure in his own time, being dubbed a ‘fat pedant’ by Thomas Carlyle, who was moved to press for the creation of the London Library as a result of the Italian’s high-handed behaviour. From the Piffard papers. 1p, 4o. On recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with short closed tears to both leaves on fold. Folded four times.

[Alexander W. Williamson, Professor of Chemistry at University College, London.] Autograph Signature on engraved ticket to his lecture on ‘Chemistry’, made out for the microscopist Bernard Piffard.

Author: 
Alexander W. Williamson [Alexander William Williamson] (1824-1904), Professor of Analytical and Practical Chemistry, University College, London [Bernard Piffard (1833-1916), entomologist; Choshu Five]
Alexander W. Williamson
Publication details: 
University College, London. The ticket is 'Renewed 1 Oct 1861 Perpetual Jany / 52 Session 1861-62.'
£56.00
Alexander W. Williamson

Williamson is notable for his work on the formation of ether, and for furthering Anglo-Japanese relations by welcoming the 'Choshu Five' and later members of the Satsuma han into his home. See his entry in the Oxford DNB. From the Piffard papers. Signed ‘Alexr W. Williamson’ on ticket engraved in copperplate on one side of 15.5 x 10.5 cm card. In fair condition, a little worn and somewhat discoloured with age. Central horizontal fold. Blind-stamped with ‘Treasury Seal’. The signature is at bottom right, with number of ticket (40) and the initials of the secretary ‘’ at bottom left.

Hodder & Stoughton ephemera: Christmas List [1910] with Dulac’s ‘Sleeping Beauty on cover; prospectus for Rackham’s ‘6/- net edition’ of 'Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens'; Christmas List [1911] with F. D. Bedford’s ‘Peter and Wendy’ on cover..

Author: 
Edmund Dulac; Arthur Rackham; F. D. Bedford; Peter Pan; Hodder & Stoughton, London publishers; J. M. Barrie; Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch
Edmund Dulac
Publication details: 
All three items by Hodder & Stoughton, Warwick Square, London, E.C. All undated. Dulac 'Christmas List' from 1910; and ‘new 6/- net edition’ of ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’ dating from the same year. Bedford 'Christmas List' from 1911.
£220.00
Edmund Dulac

Three pieces of ephemera from a golden period of English children’s book illustration. All three items printed on shiny paper, and all worn and discoloured. ONE: ‘Hodder & Stoughton’s Christmas List’, with advertisement for Edmund Dulac’s edition of A. T. Quiller-Couch’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ on cover. 20pp, folio. With rusting staples. Folded once. Undated, but containing items published in 1910, apart from the cover item, which appears to have been published in 1912.

[Royal Navy, 1704.] Printed House of Lords paper comprising Admiralty tables headed ‘A Monthly Account of Cruizers [Home-Convoys], from the First of January, to the First of November.’

Author: 
Royal Navy, 1704 [Admiralty: Monthly Account of Cruizers and Home Convoys; House of Lords; Parliament]
 Monthly Account
Publication details: 
Ordered to be printed 5 February 1705 by the House of Lords (Houses of Parliament, London). Covering period ‘from the First of January, to the First of November [1704]’.
£220.00
 Monthly Account

A scarce piece of naval ephemera. Six copies on COPAC: Chetham’s Library, Lambeth Palace, NLS, Oxford, Society of Antiquaries and BL. According to ESTC, the journals of the House of Lords state that it was ‘presented to the House on 17 January 1705, and ordered to be printed 5 February 1705’. In landscape on one side of a folio sheet of watermarked laid paper, folded into a two-page bifolium.

[World War One: ‘The Guns of August’, 1914.] Silver gelatin negative photostatic print of typed British Government ‘Aide Mémoire’ on the German Army and Belgian neutrality, including copy of note by German Foreign Minister Gottlieb von Jagow.

Author: 
[World War One: 'The Guns of August', 1914] Sir Edward Goschen (1847-1924), British Ambassador in Berlin [Gottlieb von Jagow (1863-1935), German Foreign Minister]
Aide Mémoire
Publication details: 
A photographic copy (made in the 1920s or contemporary?) of: ONE: Goschen's 'Aide Mémoire' dated 'BERLIN, August 4, 1914.' TWO: Von Jagow's manuscript note, 'Berlin, den 5. 8 1914.' [5 August 1914]
£450.00
Aide Mémoire

Silver gelatin negative photostatic print of two documents: 3pp, 4to (i.e. each of the three pages on 19.5 x 24 cm. leaf). The first page of Goschen’s two-page ‘Aide Mémoire’ on a separate leaf, and the second page and von Jagow’s note on different leaves of a bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. N.B. The entire item is a photostatic copy. Reproduced at the head and down the left margin of the first page of Goschen’s text are manuscript notes in German (including at top left: A15930 pr. 4. August 1914 pm. / Von Sir E.

[Sir August Manns, German conductor in England, Director of Music at the Crystal Palace, London.] Autograph Signature to photographic portrait on cabinet card by Negretti & Zambra, Crystal Palace.

Author: 
Sir August Manns [Sir August Friedrich Manns] (1825-1907), German conductor who made his career in England, Director of Music at the Crystal Palace, London [Negretti & Zambra, Crystal Palace]
Sir August Manns,
Publication details: 
Dated by Manns to 1894. Cabinet card by Negretti & Zambra, Crystal Palace.
£100.00
Sir August Manns,

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The National Portrait Gallery possesses a carte-de-visite another portrait of Manns by Negretti & Zambra, which it dates to 1898, but does not hold the present item, which is a head and shoulders shot showing a white-haired Manns, bald on top, with bushy eyebrows and walrus moustache looking to one side in dark jacket and white shirt and tie. A 10 x 14.5 cm albumen print, presented in the customary style on a grey cabinet card, with the firm?s details embossed in white at foot, and the usual photographers? details printed on the reverse.

[Sir Cliff Richard, popular British singer and film actor.] Autograph Signature to black and white print of publicity photograph of him in swimming trunks, seated on a beach between two girls in bikinis.

Author: 
Sir Cliff Richard (born 1940 as Harry Rodger Webb), popular British singer and film actor, the top-selling artist in the English singles chart, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley
Cliff Richard
Publication details: 
No date or place. [Early 1960s.]
£90.00
Cliff Richard

Lightly-written signature (?Cliff Richard?) in blue ink at bottom left of 21 x 16 cm photographic print on glossy paper of black and white publicity photograph of a tanned Richard sitting in swimming trunks with his hands on his knees, looking at the viewer between two rather plain brunettes in bikinis. The print is somewhat creased and worn, with minor discoloration to white border at the top edge. See Image.

[A. J. Balfour [Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour], Conservative Prime Minister.] Lithographed Circular in facsimile of Autograph Letter Signed, urging Parliamentary attendance (of MPs) for ‘the discussion of important questions'.

Author: 
A. J. Balfour [Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl Balfour] (1848-1930), Conservative Prime Minister who as Foreign Secretary issued the 1917 Balfour Declaration
A. J. Balfour
Publication details: 
24 January 1896; on letterhead of First Lord of the Treasury, 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, S.W. [London]
£60.00
A. J. Balfour

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. A lithographed document, in facsimile of an Autograph Letter Signed, on a genuine letterhead with embossed motif of First Lord of the Treasury, with mourning border. On aged paper, with the blank reverse carrying unobtrusive glue stains from previous mounting. Folded three times for postage.

[The Chelsea Physic Garden, London.] Printed invitation ‘at the Opening of the Garden’, and Laboratory andn Lecture Rooms by Earl Cadogan, made out to Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Sir William Thiselton-Dyer, and his wife.

Author: 
The Chelsea Physic Garden, London [Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer (1843-1928), botanist, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew]
Chelsea
Publication details: 
At the Opening of the Chelsea Physic Garden, London, 25 July 1902.
£180.00
Chelsea

See Thiselton-Dyer’s entry in the Oxford DNB. Printed on one side of a 10 x 13 cm piece of paper, and made out in manuscript to ‘Sir William Thistleton [sic] Dyer (and Lady)’. Text size in good condition, lightly aged, with the blank reverse of the card with slight damage from mounting. The recipient has written in a close hand in red ink at top left: ‘accepted. / 18. 7. 02.’ The text reads: ‘The Chelsea Physic Garden.

[Sir Gerard Conyers, Lord Mayor of London and Governor of the Bank of England.] Autograph Signature to Printed Annuities Receipt, completed in manuscript to pay him £50 as assignee to an executor.

Author: 
Sir Gerard Conyers (1649-1737), Lord Mayor of London and Governor of the Bank of England
Conyers
Publication details: 
2 October 1716. [Bank of England, London.]
£56.00
Conyers

Conyers is curiously absent from the Oxford DNB. The present item is a frail survival. It is the customary form, printed under the heading ‘Annuities, 3700 l. per Week.’ Completed in manuscript with date, amount and record of payment to ‘Sr Gerard Conyers - Asignee of ye Execr. of S. [Leshieuller? Lechienller?] & Attorney to Jno. Burkin, Esqr Assignee of ye same’. Signed at bottom right ‘Gerard Conyer[s]’ and with the signature of ‘Witness E Clarke’ at bottom left. On aged, creased and worn paper, with one hole from wear, and the last letter of Conyer’s surname worn away. See Image.

[Gladys Cooper, star of stage and screen.] Gelatin silver print of Foulsham & Banfield photograph of Gladys Cooper in the play ‘My Lady’s Dress’, with a second photograph of her embracing Dennis Eadie in the same production.

Author: 
Gladys Cooper [Dame Gladys Constance Cooper] (1888-1971), English actress, over seven decades a star of stage and screen; Dennis Eadie (1869-1928), actor; Foulsham & Banfield, London photographers
Cooper
Publication details: 
Label on reverse dates the solo photograph to 27 February 1914, with the stamp of Foulsham & Banfield, 49 Old Bond Street, W. [London]. The photograph of Cooper & Eadie without date or place, but from the same production.
£100.00
Cooper

Edward Knobloch’s play ‘My Lady’s Dress’ (‘in which’, as one newspaper wrote at the time, ‘the heroine’s dream takes her to the foreign [and London] scenes surrounding the manufacture of a costly gown’) premiered at the Royalty Theatre in London in 1914 and was revived several times through the 1920s.

[George Peachey, London Piano Forte Manufacturer.] Quarto Bifolium Leaflet Advertisement, printed in black and red with royal arms, advertising Peachey’s ‘City of London Piano-Forte Manufactory’, with much information in small print.

Author: 
George Peachey, 73 Bishopsgate Street, Within, nineteenth-century London Piano Forte Manufacturer, ‘By Appointment to Her Majesty’
Peachey
Publication details: 
No date, but on Saunders laid paper with 1856 watermark. George Peachey, Piano Forte Manufacturer, 73, Bishopsgate Street, Within, Opposite the Marine Society, London.’
£150.00
Peachey

Scarce: no other copy traced. Bifolium of laid 1856 Saunders paper. 4pp, 4to. Unpaginated. The front cover carries is headed ‘City of London Piano-Forte Manufactory.’ Beneath this are engraved the royal arms, flanked by the words ‘By Appointment / to the Queen.’ Peachey’s address is engraved beneath the arms in large letters. At the foot of the page, in red ink, are three lines relating to ‘Harmoniums.’, with the second page headed by another two lines in red. The two central pages carry much information in small type.

[DICKENSIANA. Set of six ‘Pickwick Papers’ shadow casters (Mr Pickwick; Mr. Weller, Senr., Sam Weller, Jingle, [J]ob Trotter, Fat Boy) on card, four of them with dark areas carefully cut away, of which one is completed.

Author: 
DICKENSIANA. Six ‘Pickwick Papers’ shadow casters. [Charles Dickens; Magic Lantern Show]
DICKENSIANA
Publication details: 
No date. [Edwardian?] London?
£400.00
DICKENSIANA

A set of six scarce pieces of unusual Dickensiana. Difficult to date: the nature of the illustrations (printed in negative) gives them a modernist feel, but their purpose would place them before the 1920s. The six items, printed in black on pieces of grey-white card, range in size from 12 x 16.5 cm (‘SAM WELLER.’) to 4.5 x 6 cm (‘JOB TROTTER’). In good condition, lightly aged. Four of the six have soot stains on their blank reverses, presumably caused by the hot lantern.

[The man whose name became synonymous with bank notes.] Autograph Signature of Abraham Newland, Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, to part of receipt for annuities, witnessed by ‘R Ettie’.

Author: 
Abraham Newland (1730-1807), Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, whose name became synonyous with banknotes
Newland
Publication details: 
July 1789. [Bank of England, London.]
£50.00
Newland

An interesting autograph in economic history. Newland’s entry in the Oxford DNB states that ‘His signature on Bank of England notes became so familiar that they were known as Abraham Newlands. His fame in this respect was commemorated in several popular jingles’. A good firm signature, ‘A Newland’, with that of the witness ‘R Ettie’, at the foot of printed form, completed in manuscript, paying Newland £33 15s 0d as assignee to an executor.

[St Thomas Lunatic Asylum near Exeter, founded in 1795.] Printed bill, filled out in manuscript, for sum due by ‘Mr. Penny’ for ‘Board and Maintenance’, with Signed Autograph Note of receipt by treasurer John Mackintosh, and note on annual accounts.

Author: 
St Thomas Lunatic Asylum, near Exeter, founded in 1795 [John Mackintosh, Treasurer; James Penny, Exeter bookseller; William Seacombe]
Asylum
Publication details: 
‘Lunatic Asylum, near Exeter.’ Made out for the period between 6 May and 1 July 1811. Slug: ‘Trewmans, Printers, Exeter.’
£80.00
Asylum

An interesting piece of Exeter ephemera. See ‘Besley’s Exeter Directory for 1835’: ‘LUNATIC ASYLUM, St. Thomas. Founded in 1795. The expenses are defrayed by the board of patients whose friends can afford to pay for their maintenance, and by benefactions, legacies, &c.’ (In the entry ‘John Mackintosh’ is still listed as treasurer.) 1p, landscape 12mo. Addressed by Mackintosh on reverse to ‘Mr. James Penny / Bookseller / Fore St. / Exeter’. In fair condition, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with slight staining and damage from breaking open wafer.

[Juvenile ephemera: Punch and Judy, Conjuring, Ventriloquism, Shadow Pictures.] Attractive illustrated handbill advertisement for ‘One Hour of Laughter’, ‘Entertainments for Children arranged by James Portland, The Childrens’ Entertainment Expert’.

Author: 
Juvenile ephemera: Punch and Judy, Conjuring, Ventriloquism, Shadow Pictures; James Portland (fl. 1919), The Childrens' [sic] Entertainment Expert, London
children
Publication details: 
No date, but from around the time of the First World War. James Portland, The Childrens' [sic] Entertainment Expert, 39, Sinclair Road, Kensington, W 14. [London]
£220.00
children

An attractive piece of juvenile ephemera, printed in black on one side of a piece of 23.5 x 36.5 cm wove paper. In good condition, folded twice. The document is excessively scarce, no other copy having been traced, and little has been learnt about the advertiser. In 1919 Punch carried an advertisement for ‘Punch and Judy, Conjuring, Ventriloquism, &c.’ from ‘James Portland, the Conjuror and Children’s Entertainer’. Four years later the ‘Model Engineer’ carried several advertisements from Portland as a supplier of ebonite.

[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British naval hero.] Collection of contemporaneous material relating to him, including a range of related illustrations and magazine accounts, as well as manuscript poems and other matter.

Author: 
Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson; Admiral Lord Nelson], British naval hero whose victories include the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, in which he died
Nelson
Publication details: 
Earliest item from 1799; several items from 1805. Mostly printed in London.
£850.00
Nelson

A nice collection, which both by its content and arrangement indicates the huge esteem in which Nelson was held. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, most items laid down on leaves of gilt-edged paper extracted from an album. Mostly 12mo. This description is arranged under fifteen numbered entries. The manuscript material is at No. 14. ONE: Engraving. ‘Plan of a MANSION HOUSE, proposed for Lord NELSON.’ ‘Gent[leman’s]. Mag[azine]. Feb. 1799. Pt. I. p.97’. Engraved by Longmate from Arthur Brown.

[Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson], British naval hero.] Collection of contemporaneous material relating to him, including a range of related illustrations and magazine accounts, as well as manuscript poems and other matter.

Author: 
Lord Nelson [Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson; Admiral Lord Nelson], British naval hero whose victories include the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805, in which he died
Nelson
Publication details: 
Earliest item from 1799; several items from 1805. Mostly printed in London.
£850.00
Nelson

A nice collection, which both by its content and arrangement indicates the huge esteem in which Nelson was held. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, most items laid down on leaves of gilt-edged paper extracted from an album. Mostly 12mo. This description is arranged under fifteen numbered entries. The manuscript material is at No. 14. ONE: Engraving. ‘Plan of a MANSION HOUSE, proposed for Lord NELSON.’ ‘Gent[leman’s]. Mag[azine]. Feb. 1799. Pt. I. p.97’. Engraved by Longmate from Arthur Brown.

[‘Mirbel the naturalist’: Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel, French botanist.] Autograph Signature (‘Mirbel’) over printed device of the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle au Jardin du Roi.

Author: 
Charles-François Brisseau de Mirbel (1776-1854), French botanist, a founder of cytology, plant histology and plant physiology in France, on the staff of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris
Mirbel
Publication details: 
No date. [Museum d’Histoire Naturelle au Jardin du Roi.]
£90.00
Mirbel

See his entry in the Encylopaedia Britannica. The signature ‘Mirbel’ is written on a clear area of a circular printed device of 4.5 cm diameter, in grey tone, within decorative border. The text reads: ‘MUSEUM / D’HISTOIRE NATURELLE / AU JARDIN DU ROI / Entrée aux Jours et Heures / consacrés à l’Etude. / Prof. Admin.’ Laid down on a 7 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, on which is written, in a neat early nineteenth-century hand, ‘Mirbel the naturalist’. See image.

[Joseph Stalin, communist dictator of the Soviet Union.] Printed propaganda: handbill in English, translating text by ‘J. STALIN’ exhorting his followers to do ‘as Lenin taught us’.

Author: 
Joseph Stalin, communist dictator of the Soviet Union [Lenin; Rabochaya Gazeta, Moscow; Communist Party of Great Britain; propaganda]
Stalin
Publication details: 
No date or place. [English, 1920s?] Translated from letter sent by Stalin in 1925 to the Rabochaya Gazeta (Worker’s Newspaper), Moscow.
£120.00
Stalin

The parallel which Bertrand Russell showed between Marxism and Christianity is apparent in this piece of quasi-religious propaganda, which presumably emanates from the Communist Party of Great Britain. It is printed in red on one side of a 20 x 29 cm piece of shiny paper, scarcely thicker than tracing paper. Lightly aged, and with creasing and wear to extremities. The text, which translates part of a letter sent by Stalin to the Rabochaya Gazeta on the first anniversary of Stalin’s death, reads as follows: ‘Remember, love and study Lenin, our teacher and leader.

[W. & G. Foyle (Foyles), Charing Cross Road booksellers.] Printed prospectus for ‘The Centenary Life of Lewis Carroll ' by Langford Reed, published by the firm as a ‘Trefoile Publication’.

Author: 
Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson], author of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ [Langford Reed; W. & G. Foyle, booksellers (Foyles), Charing Cross Road, London; Trefoile Publications]
Carroll
Publication details: 
[1932.] ‘A Trefoile Publication from the House of - W. & G. FOYLE, Ltd., 119-125, Charing Cross Road, London, W.C.1’.
£120.00
Carroll

This prospectus is a scarce item: no other copy has been traced. A 4to bifolium, with four unnumbered pages printed in red. Somewhat aged and worn, with a horizontal strip of light discoloration at the head of the cover, which has the title and author’s name surrounded by a border made up of Tenniel’s illustrations, beneath this is a quotation from Dodgson’s poetry and the price of ‘7/6 net’. Across the middle two pages is the heading ‘The Centenary “Life of Lewis Carroll”’. The text begins by explaining that Reed has made use of Dodgson’s letters to Ellen Terry.

[Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian supermodel, and Michel Comte, Swiss fashion photographer.] Autograph Note Signed from Bündchen to Comte, accompanying sixty-three of his photographs of her, in groups of three or four similar images, from various shoots.

Author: 
Gisele Bündchen (b.1980), Brazilian supermodel, and Michel Comte (b.1954), Swiss fashion photographer, artist and filmaker
Supermodel
Supermodel2
Publication details: 
Note dated 16 May 1999. Some of the photographs taken in 'France, May [1999]' for Italian Vogue.
£800.00
Supermodel
Supermodel2

Bündchen’s career began in London in 1998. Since 2001, she has been one of the highest-paid fashion models in the world. In 2007, Forbes listed her as the sixteenth-richest woman in the entertainment industry. In 2019 Claudia Schiffer described her as the last of the supermodels. Comte’s fashion and portrait photography have appeared in a wide range of publications, primarily Italian Vogue. In 2000 he was named Photographer of the year by PHOTO magazine.

[Dame Margot Fonteyn, prima ballerina.] Autograph Signature to printed programme of a performance by the Sadler’s Wells Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Author: 
Dame Margot Fonteyn [stage name of Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias, née Hookham (1919-1991)], prima ballerina assoluta with the Royal Ballet [previously Sadler’s Wells Ballet], London
Fonteyn
Publication details: 
‘Saturday Evening, 22nd November, 1947’. Sadler’s Wells Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden [London]. ‘Printed by Finden Brown & Co, Ltd., Varndell Street, London N.W.1’.
£80.00
Fonteyn

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. The programme is 8pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with minor rust to staples. The cover consists of the royal crest printed in red, and the rest in black: ‘ROYAL OPERA HOUSE / COVENT GARDEN’ above the crest, and ‘THE SADLER’S WELLS / BALLET / 1947’ below it. At an angle across the centre of the page, in blue ink, is the large signature ‘Margot Fonteyn’.

[Charles Dickens, Britain's best-loved novelist.] Albumen carte-de-visite by John Watkins, Photographer to the Queen, London.

Author: 
Charles Dickens, Britain's best-loved novelist [John Watkins, Photographer to the Queen, London]
Dickens
Publication details: 
[September 1863.] John Watkins, Photographer to the Queen The Prince of Wales and The Ex Royal Family of France, 34 Parliament Street, London, S.W.
£80.00
Dickens

The National Portrait Gallery copy of this item is NPG Ax17292, and the dating to September 1863 is theirs. A 5.8 x 8.8 cm photographic print, laid down on 6.2 x 10.3 cm piece of card. On the card beneath the portrait: 'JOHN WATKINS PHOT. / Copyright Secured'. On the reverse Watkins's full address, with crest. The image is faded and indistinct, compared with the NPG copy; otherwise the item is In fair condition lightly aged. A head and shoulders shot with a sepulchral Dickens turned almost to a left profile, eyes barely open, with a clenched right hand to the side of his face.

[Sir Malcolm Sargent, composer and conductor.] Large sprawling stylized Autograph Signature in blue pencil on front of printed programme for a Royal Albert Hall performance of Berlioz’s ‘Grande Messe des Morts’.

Author: 
Sir Malcolm Sargent [Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent] (1895-1967), composer, organist and conductor of choral works, especially at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (‘The Proms’)
Sargent
Publication details: 
Programme for performance at the Royal Albert Hall, London, 8 April 1954. ‘Published by The British Broadcasting Corporation, 35 Marylebone High Street, London, W.1.’
£56.00
Sargent

Stapled pamphlet. 20pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Sargent’s unusual bold stylized signature, in blue pencil, almost occupies a 5 cm square. All but the top centimeter which touches the printed date at points, is written on blank space on the cover. See image.

[John Ruskin.] Carte de visite by Elliott & Fry, London, with facsimile signature.

Author: 
John Ruskin, pre-eminent Victorian art critic; Elliott & Fry, nineteenth-century London photographers noted for their cartes de visite
Ruskin
Publication details: 
1867 or 1869. Elliott & Fry, 55, Baker Street, Portman Square, London, W.
£150.00
Ruskin

Rather long for a carte de visite: 6 x 9 cm albumen print laid down on 6.5 x 10.5 cm card. In fair condition, lightly discoloured and worn. On the card beneath the photograph is a facsimile of Ruskin’s signature (‘John Ruskin’) and ‘ELLIOTT & FRY Copyright. 55. BAKER ST.’ Printed on the reverse is the royal crest and the firm’s address. A copy of the present item was offered by Sotheby’s in 2021, dated to 1867, with the claim that it was ‘signed on the mount’. That claim is erroneous: the signature to that copy is identical with the present lithographed one.

[Thomas Cook, travel agent.] Autograph Note Signed to lithographic illustration of his ?Leicester Temperance Hall and Hotel / Designed by J. Medland Esq., Gloucester?.

Author: 
Thomas Cook (1808-1892), travel agent; Leicester Temperance Hall and Hotel, designed by James Medland (1808-1894), County Surveyor for Gloucestershire
Cook
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but docketed in another hand on the reverse, including years 1866 and 1867.
£50.00
Cook

See Cook?s entry in the Oxford DNB. His temperance hall and hotel illustrated here, were built in 1853. The hall was demolished in the 1960s, to be replaced by a building typical of those that blight Leicester in 2011; the council gave permission for the hotel to be demolished to make way for another monstrosity. Sepia lithograph printed in landscape on 20 x 13 cm leaf of laid paper, extracted from a book or pamphlet. Attractive illustration of an imposing structure, with those that flank it, and people and coaches in the foreground.

[David Low, English cartoonist, born in New Zealand.] Printed christmas card ‘from Mr. and Mrs. David Low’, illustrated with a cartoon by him of a dog caught ripping up a christmas card.

Author: 
David Low [Sir David Alexander Cecil Low] (1891-1963), English political cartoonist, born in New Zealand
Low
Publication details: 
No date. ‘25, Helenslea Avenue, / N. W. 11. [London]’
£80.00
Low

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The present item is a nice piece of printed ephemera relating to the man described in his Guardian obituary as ‘the dominant cartoonist of the western world’. In 1937 Goebbels had told Lord Halifax that Low’s cartoons were harming Anglo-German relations, and after the war it was revealed that his name was in the ‘black book’ of individuals to be ‘liquidated’ on German conquest of Britain. In good condition, lightly aged.Small 4to bifolium printed in brown ink on thick wove paper.

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