ACCOUNTS

For more than a century the firm of John Brumfit Ltd of the City of London was one of Britain's leading cigar and tobacco merchants, its reputation international. The firm was founded in 1864 by John B. Brumfit, son of Charles Brumfit of No. 1 Pall Mall West. The items offered here are the journal and cash book written out by the founder at the firm's inception, together with two related items (Items Three and Four below).

None of the boats and captains named in the present item are present in contemporary Navy Lists, so they would appear to be merchant ships. 2pp, foolscap 8vo. Aged and worn, with slight loss along edges and faded to a small portion of text. Folded four times into a packet, named (on the reverse): ‘Respecting Arming Pilot Boates / Account of Stores’. The whole of the recto is filled with text, divided into six rectangles in two columns of three rectangles each, under the heading ‘Account of Sundry Stores received from the Pilot Boates’.

Providing an interesting view of the administrative aspect of the Georgian navy. Closely and neatly written on 2pp, foolscap 8vo, on first leaf of a bifolium. 64 lines of text. The letter is signed ‘R Truscott’, but the docketing identifies the writer as ‘Richd. Truscott’. Adressed on reverse of second leaf, with red wax seal and two Plymouth postmarks, to ‘James Sykes Esqr. / Navy Agent / Arundel Street / London’. Around this address are the docketing and some calculations. The seal has a good impression of the crest of ‘RT’, with motto ‘PEACE AND PLENTY’.

The Gilbert Miller production of ‘Pride and Prejudice’, designed by Rex Whistler, and starring Celia Johnson as Elizabeth Bennet and Hugh Williams as Mr Darcy, was a great success. It opened at the St James's Theatre, London, on 27 February 1936, and closed on 21 November 1936; with a Christmas revival between 26 December 1936 and 16 January 1937. There was a royal performance before Queen Mary on 15 February 1937, and the production went on tour for the rest of the year.

This is a document which would certainly repay investigation. No record of this firm of merchants has been discovered, or even of where they traded. Robison is a Scottish name, and there is an undated reference to a ‘James Robison, merchant in Dumfries’; most Shuttleworth’s hail from the north-east of England, and there is mention of a John Shuttleworth in Manchester in 1820. Other clues in the document suggest a London location: in 1793 Napper and Co.

A nice item of Victorian charitable ephemera. The Society (later the Hepburn Starey Blind Aid Society) was instituted in 1864, and according to p.5 of the present item the phrase ‘Hall of Light for the Blind’ was ‘Given to Somers Town Blind Aid Society by a Blind Chinese Christian lad’. No copy of this item, or of any other material relating to the Society found on either WorldCat or JISC. 24pp, 12mo. Stitched. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. The front cover is laid out in decorative fashion: ‘“The Hall of Light.” / Somers Town / Blind Aid Society.

Six substantial ledgers (the heaviest 37 x 41 x 8 cm, and the widest 39 x 52 x 3 cm), containing itemised accounts providing a mass of information regarding the tobacco industry and economic history in Ireland, and one of Dublin's notable employers, whose sales in the 1950s were in the tens of millions. (On 9 December 2004 the Irish Times described the closure of the plant as marking 'the end of an era'. The firm's first Dublin factory, at 56-75 Botanic Road, was constructed by G. & T. Crampton in 1923, and is now the Botanic Business Centre.

16pp., 8vo, not bound as issued, stitched, some foxing, mainly good condition. Sections include "Town Accounts" (Town Credit (Cash of County, etc); Town Debtor (Expense of Highways; Pauper Expenses, etc); Standing of the Town (Available Resources, Farming Tools, Provisions, Indebtedness, Paupers' names, etc.); Town Credit; Town Debtor (inc. Stock bought, Groceries, Cloth, Work Hired, etc). (Printed) Names of Selectmen and Overseers of the Poor of Loudon conclude with date, 14 March 1854

The 57-mile canal section of the two rivers was constructed between 1794 and 1810. In the face of competition by the Great Western Railway it fell into disuse in the latter nineteenth century. A process of restoration began a hundred years later, and the canal is now a popular amenity. Both items in good condition, lightly aged and worn. Both headed on first page 'Report of the Committee of Management, of the Kennet and Avon Canal Navigation.' Both are 3pp., 8vo, on bifoliums.

Six of the eight items in good condition, lightly aged and worn; the other two showing heavier signs of age and wear. The six sets of accounts from the 'Steward's Office' - for various terms between Christmas 1879 and Christmas 1882 - are each described by Harington on the reverse as 'Battels'. All six are printed forms, over a single 8vo page, headed 'Christ Church' and laid out in the same style, and completed in manuscript with the details of the expenditure of 'Mr Richard Harington' (the last being the greatest, at £49 12s 7d).

36pp., 12mo. In worn calf-bound account book. In good internal condition, on aged paper; detached from the worn leather binding, and with the front free endpaper (bearing the title) loose. Label pasted to front cover reads: 'Accounts | G. B. R. | Charlton | Woolwich | Leicestershire | 1797 to 1804'. The volume is the work of Wilson (who acquired the estates in 1798 on the death of his father) or of his land agent. Paginated by the writer to 64, and with the accounts for 'Land Tax paid and allowed' on pp.1-7, for 'Cash paid & allowed for' on pp.11-23, and 'Cash paid & allowed for.

8vo, 249 pp. In original black leather blind-tooled binding, marbled endpapers. The text clear and complete, apart from a few leaves at the front and end which have faded through damp damage, and one leaf becoming detached and worn at extremities. The damp has also detached the book from the binding, the glue of which has dissolved. The only clue of the location of the brewery is the reference to 'Ramsgate', below. The volume consists almost exclusively of pages of closely-written dated calculations, with pages giving number of barrels of 'Stocks pumped up' and 'left for next brew[in]g'.

2pp., 8vo. In good condition, on a leaf of lightly-aged paper. With circular red stamp of the autograph collector P. Jul. Fontaine. Begins: 'Claude Dejoux sculpteur de L'académie demeure actuellement a paris rue de L'université, palais de Bourbon.' The document, which carries the signature of a witness, consists of an extract, presumably for the tax authorities, beginning 'Certificate de La Section Des Invalides en date du 19. 8bre. 1792 L'an 1er. de La Republique'.

148pp., small 4to. In contemporary red leather half bindings with marbled boards and edges and gilt tooling. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in lightly aged and worn binding. Signed on reverse of front free endpaper: 'J. Borthwick | 1820', and on the page facing this: 'General Account | book. | N.B. The Vouchers are tied up with Labels marked for the respective years. Where particulars will. | See also my Journal.

The present volume provides a fascinating sidelight into the operations of an archetypal Working Men's Club (Labour leader Ed Milliband was recently described as being 'more at home in Primrose Hill than Kenfig Hill') at what was perhaps the high point of such an institution, covering the period from just before the Great War to the end of the Depression of the 1930s. The accounts relate to two locations: the Cefn Institute and the Talbot Miners' Welfare Institute. The latter was founded in 1911 after a gift from the Talbot family, and closed in 1959.

[4] + 288pp., 8vo. In vellum-style cream cloth binding with flap and front pocket. Internally in good condition, lightly-aged, in somewhat grubby binding. In manuscript across front cover: 'May 1927 May 31 1929 | Morgan Motor Company Limited'. The volume gives a valuable sidelight into the finances of an iconic British firm, during a boom period in its history, and place the company squarely at the centre of a network of other firms within the motoring industry.

The collection contains the following:1. To John Williamson, 25th Regt: 5 Autograph Letters Signed "Alex[ander] Adair" Army Agent with 'extensive business' (of Pall Mall, London, and Flixton Hall; obit. Gent.Mag.

1p., landscape 8vo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. Headed 'Mr John White Dr. to General Oglethorpe'. Entries dated from 13 February 1777 to 25 August 1778. The accounts, with debits on the left and credits on the right, cover two and a half years' rental on Home Farm at £171 per anum, and one and a half years' rental on Broadfields at £82 2s 0d per anum. Signed note at end: '26 Sep.

23pp., 12mo. In brown printed wraps. Good, on lightly-aged paper, in lightly worn and creased wraps. Shelfmark, stamp and label of the Board of Education Reference Library, London. Scarce: no copy on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

4pp., foolscap 8vo, on two bifoliums. On aged and worn paper, with slight bloom at head and a little loss to spine from disbinding.

An interesting collection of Cambridge ephemera, dating from a period of considerable economic and social turbulence. The twenty-two items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. They include six term accounts, with Brett-James's details typewritten on printed forms, signed by tutors D. Thomson and B. T. D. Smith. These accounts are itemised, with details of domestic charges. Affixed to all but one of these accounts are official College receipts signed by tutors. Also present is an Autograph Note to Brett-James from the College clerk R. S.

Folio, 3 pp. A printed form on three leaves, held together by the original pink ribbon. Docketed on the reverse of two of the leaves (with the army said to be 'At M

The twelve items are in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, folded into packets, with all texts clear and complete. The first of the General Annual Statements, that for '1863 & 64', is representative. Its two pages are on one side each of two landscape sheets of grey paper, both 67 x 42 cm. Both are printed forms, with columns in red, headed '25th & 26th of Victoria, Cap. 61 GENERAL STATEMENTS of RECEIPTS and EXPENDITURE on Account of the HIGHWAYS of each Parish, Township &c.

On one side of a piece of laid watermarked paper, 14 x 8 cm. On aged and creased paper. The accounts are brief, and neatly written in an unidentified hand. At foot '1845'. Headed 'Revenue as calculated to end of Charter', and featuring a total of £17,936,217 against itemised charges of £18,763517, including those incurred 'in India', 'Esp: St Helena', 'Political Chges in England' and 'Cost of '. Beneath this a section headed 'Of ye above charges may be pble in Engd'.

On a piece of paper 7.5 x 18 cm. Neatly mounted (windowpane mount) on leaf of paper 27 x 23 cm. Neatly written out by Dallas, and reading 'Received Decr. 23d. 1800 the sum of Ten Pounds on account from Messrs Cadell and Davies. | [signed] R C Dallas. - | £10.-.-' On the right a blind-stamped government two pence stamp, 'FOR RECEIPTS'. Dallas published several works with Cadell & Davies, and the receipt may possibly relate to his 'Annals of the French Revolution' (1800), or his 'Natural History of Volcanoes' (1801).

4to, 2 pp. On a bifolium. Neatly printed on watermarked laid paper. Clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The first paragraph reads 'I BEG to inform you that you will be [last two world replaced by 'are'] of standing to take the degree of M.A.

The collection assembled by William Done Bushell (see Item Nine), later a senior master at Harrow School. All nine items clear and complete. On aged paper, discoloured by the glue used in mounting. The first eight are printed, and the last is in manuscript. ITEM ONE: 'Classical Tripos. | 1861.' 4to, 1 p. Names the examiners, and those of the students (with colleges), under columns for the first, second and third classes. ITEM TWO: Headed 'List of Honors at the Bachelor of Arts' Commencement, January 26, 1861.' 4to, 1 p.

Two pages, 12mo. On aged and somewhat grubby paper, with a few closed tears to extremities. Text clear and entire. The recipients 'account for clubs' supplied to Samuel in June 1896 'has not been presented between that date and now'. Samuel thinks he paid the amount at the time'. '[O]n my return to town I will look through my receipts and communicate with you further.'