BRITISH

On 12mo leaf, intended to be inserted in a book. In good condition lightly aged and worn. Centred on the page the inscription reads: 'With the author's kind remembrances. | W W Hunter. | Oaken Holt. | 1895.' The reverse is blank.

5.5 x 10 cm piece of paper, cut from the front of an envelope. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Immediate | The | Lord Archbishop of Canterbury | W Gladstone'. The signature is in the customary place, in the bottom left-hand corner.

An interesting item in the field of Victorian Egyptology. The subject is what Owen describes here as 'one of the oldest Statues of an Egyptian Notable in the British Museum'. Its current Museum Number is EA103, and it has been in the Museum since 1835, but the details of its acquisition are unclear. In his translation Birch calls the sitter 'the Royal Scribe, Amenhelp', but the current BM description begins: 'Scribal statue of Amenhotep son of Hapu: of black grano-diorite. Hieroglyphic texts are inscribed on the papyrus unrolled on his lap and on the statue plinth.

Without date or place. Rectangle of thin paper, cut from the end of a letter, clearly in response to a request for an autograph. In fair condition, aged and creased. Reads: 'I am | Your friend, | Khama | Chief of Bamangwato'.

On 8 x 11 cm piece of card. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mount on reverse. A good bold signature, clearly in response to a request for an autograph. Reads: 'Yours Truly | Willie Smith | 1 – 2 – 24'. Smith has made a short line under the date, but the signature is not underlined.

14 + [1]pp, 8vo. Stapled eight-leaf pamphlet. Publishers' slug on reverse of final leaf. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only copy located on OCLC WorldCat at Princeton. A pleasing memento of a grand affair, attended by a host of dignitaries, including Princess Margaret, the Prince of Wales (who read the first lesson) and Betjeman's publisher John Murray (who read the second lesson).

See E. A. H. Webb, 'History of the 12th (The Suffolk) Regiment, 1685-1913' (1914). Picton was the uncle of 'the illustrious Picton', Lt-Gen. Sir Thomas Picton (1758-1815), who was his sole executor and residuary legatee. The year of Picton's birth is variously reported, but the Monthly Magazine, December 1811, is among several sources reporting his death in Bond Street at the age of 87. 4pp, folio. Bifolium. In fair condition, aged and with closed tears along the three fold lines. Endorsed on reverse of second leaf: '12th.

See Moxon's entry in the Oxford DNB, which describes his association with William Wordsworth as 'arguably his most important publishing relationship'. The present poem was published as 'The Two Streams' in the 'Literary Souvenir' of Alaric Watts in 1830, a year before Moxon published his first volume of Wordsworth's verse. The present item is 1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, and laid down on a leaf removed from an album. Folded three times. Entirely in Moxon's autograph, titled 'Sonnet', and signed at the end 'Edward Moxon | London Jan. 5th | 1847'.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. He is 'very much obliged' to Frewen for the offer 'of duplicates to help in the restoration of destroyed libraries', and notes that 'it is impossible to forecast the needs that will exist at the end of the war'. In the meantime he has 'marked with the initials F. [L. S.?] a number of volumes in your list which I think are sure to be useful for our purpose.

1p, 16mo. In fair condition, folded once, with two punch holes at margin, one affecting a word of text. She states that it is kind of him to ask her again, and she feels 'very churlish in having to say NO a second time', but her 'autumn-winter plans are complicated by a big concert tour & a lot of other [pro]bable dates', so she must reluctantly refuse his invitation.

For information on Russell see the Oxford DNB entry on his wife from 1957, the social worker Kit Russell [Katherine Frances Russell, née Stewart] (1909-1998). Both letters are in fair condition, lightly aged and creased. ONE: Signed 'Joyce Grenfell'. 2pp, 12mo. She begins the letter with a question: 'Dear Sheridan Russell. | What is Time and Talents?

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. Addressed to 'E Gambart Esq' and endorsed by the recipient. Two years earlier Gambart had published 'Passages from the Poems of Thomas Hood', illustrated with 34 plates by the Junior Etching Club (of which Whistler was a member between 1857 and 1862). The book had been well-received, but the letter makes clear that it had not covered its costs.

The letter must have been written in 1855, as Fox Maule (later Earl of Dalhousie) was appointed Secretary of State for War on 8 February of that year, and Napier died on 16 September. 4pp, 16mo. Bifolium with black border. Loss to part of second leaf caused by removal from mount, resulting in loss of a few words of text, otherwise in good condition. Begins: 'In consequence of a letter from my Son William of your regt. [i.e. the King's Own Scottish Borderers] stating your wish to be appointed a Paymaster to the Out Pensioners, I wrote to my friend Mr Fox Maule the Secy.

Twelve 8vo sheets of duplicated typescript, eleven of which are printed on both sides, making a total of 23pp. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased, with wear to extremities and slight damage to corners from tearing of staple. The first five sheets are stapled together. ONE: 'Local Hotels (within 4 miles radius)'. Map on reverse, captioned: 'How to reach Heathrow Airport – London'. TWO: 'British Airports Authority | Heathrow Airport – London'. 'Issued by: Press and Public Relations Office | British Airports Authority | Heathrow Airport – London'. Printed on 4pp over two leaves.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed to 'B. Nicholson, Esq., | Brooks's, | St. James's Street, S.W.1.' (Nicholson was the son of Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville-West.) She begins by thanking him for his 'kind letter and charming gift of your drawings of St. Nectaire', adding: 'as an author my vanity is flattered by your appreciation of “Romanesque France”'. She is glad she has helped 'a certain number of people in getting to know some of the beauties of France', but feels 'something of a fraud about the book as without the help of my friend Mr.

The recipient Simon Nicholson was a colonial civil servant and a neighbour of Lugard at Tallboys in Abinger Hammer. He and his wife Molly were a cultured couple, and were friends of Edith Wharton and Bernard Berenson. The four letters are in good condition, lightly aged and worn, and each is 2pp, 12mo. Each folded once. The first three are signed 'Lugard' and the last, to Molly Nicholson, 'Fred Lugard'. In the first letter (23 September 1940), after expressing pleasure at seeing Nicholson again and having 'a talk', he begs him 'not to postpone your week-end here.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. Endorsed on reverse of second leaf. At the time of writing Molesworth was serving as First Commissioner of Works in Lord Aberdeen's coalition government. (In the year of his death Aberdeen would appoint him Colonial Secretary.) The letter begins: 'My dear Merivale | Last November I moved for the enclosed return and since then I have spoken to ]Pal?] [i.e. Viscount Palmerston?] about it who promised that it should be made.

1p, 8vo. Text clear and complete, on heavily chipped and worn thin paper, with loss to extremities. An unusual and revealing letter, in which Rothenstein gives his own jokey suggestion of how Horder should approach a biographical entry he has been asked to write, begins: 'My dear Horder – of course you will do it! “Mr W. R.

8pp, 12mo. On two attached bifoliums. In good condition, lightly aged, with slight damage to margin of first leaf. Folded once. A long letter, closely and neatly written in English, responding to 'objections' to his 'Épilogue 1. Les impérialistes au pouvoir: 1895-1914' (1926), giving his evaluation of 'the Edwardian years' in English history, and contrasting his 'spirit' in the study Victorian England with that of Lytton Strachey.

Written within one of three red rectangular squares on a page on one side of a leaf detached from 'The Meredith Birthday Book'. In good condition, lightly aged. The Princess's inscription reads 'Victoria of Schleswig Holstein Aug. 2. 1902', and the rest of the page is blank. The word 'Victoria' is underlined, and the upper part of the flourish to the 'V' extends over the top of the rectangle, and the date projects into the margin. On the reverse to the leaf are printed quotations from Meredith for the days 4 to 6 May.

2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with strip of paper from mount adhering at foot of reverse. The recipient's name is not decipherable, but he appears to have been a royal equerry. Blakeney hopes that he 'got safe home last night', and thanks him 'for giving me the pleasure of your Company'. He is enclosing a letter from Sir John Wilson (1780-1856) 'who is forwarding an application from Mr Ferrier the Quarter Master of this Establishment in favour of an application to obtain admission into the Cambridge [?]'.

All three items in good condition, with both letters lightly-creased at the foot. ONE: TLS. Signed 'John Mortimer'. 11 November 1995. 1p, 8vo. He was delighted to receive Fry's letter and would 'like to visit a writing group with which you're connected. If I'm free on May 10th I'll come. I'm just waiting to hear about a trip to Florida – so do let the committee write to me. I'll know by then more clearly what I'm doing.' TWO: TLS. Signed 'John', with Mortimer deleting the typed word 'sincerely'. 1 March 1997. 1p, 8vo. He found it 'a delight' to hear Fry's 'lecture at the RSL'.

2pp, landscape 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Begins: 'Dear Christopher Fry, | I am sorry to contradict you, but I showed my co-editor, the poet Rodney Pybus, your poem “For Edmund Blunden”, and we both [last word underlined] feel it should be published, and that we would like to publish it. Please.' In the hope that Fry will agree, he asks him to 'sign and return an acceptance form and send us the biog. note you would like to print alongside the poem'. He continues: 'I do hope you'll agree.

See the entries for Sutton and Marcet in the Oxford DNB. A strained exchange as a result of a misunderstanding over the presentation by Marcet to the Medical and Chirurgical Society of a paper by Sutton. (The following year Sutton would publish his 'Tracts on Delirium Tremens, on Peritonitis, and on Some other Internal Inflammatory Affections, and on the Gout'.) The shift between persons in Sutton's three letters is indicative of a cooling of tone, and in the final item Marcet comes close to accusing Sutton of lying.

For information on the recipient the physician William Frederick Cleveland (1823-1898), see his obituary, BMJ, 3 December 1898. The letter concerns the twenty-seventh annual meeting of the British Medical. Association, held at Liverpool, 27 to 29 July 1859.. 2pp, 12mo. Lightly aged and worn, with small square of paper cut from head, slightly affecting the address, and thin strip of paper from mount adhering to the reverse. The letter begins: 'Dear Sir, | The balloting list is of no use excepting to those who attend the Genl Meeting at Liverpool'.

The present letter relates to the founding by Davitt – who inspired Mahatma Gandhi – of the newspaper 'Labour World', in which he was an early promoter of the British Labour Party. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. The reverse of the second leaf carries a full-page engraving of the 'Arundel Hotel, | Victoria Embankment, Strand, W.C.' He begins by informing Knox that 'Mr Stead' has handed him his 'favour to him of the 12th. inst.' He continues: 'The paper alluded to in the Review of Reviews is not to be started in Ireland.

2pp, 8vo. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to edge on reverse, which is endorsed '14 Febr. 1811 | T Denman'. Folded several times. The recipient is not named, but was clearly an individual of some standing, as Denman appears keen to dine with him.

On one side of 7.5 x 12 cm panel cut from front of envelope. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to blank reverse. Frank laid out in the prescribed fashion, with the red postal stamp ('FREE | 28AP28 | 1835'). Denman's signature ('Denman') is at bottom left, and he addresses as follows: 'London Apl twentyeight | 1835 | The Rev W Plucknett | Wincanton | Alresford | Somerset', with the last three lines deleted by Denman and replaced by 'Alresford | Hampshire.

Both letters are signed 'Chas. Mercier'. ONE 23 July 1906. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper adhering to the blank second leaf. The letter, which is written in a playful tone, begins: 'My dear Bedford Pearce [sic] | Blamed if I do? I am not so ignorant of the Canonical Books as to confuse Prov: 26. 4 with 26. 5. Your offence, which cries aloud to heaven, is the omission of a comma! A quotation should follow the original verbatim et literatim [sic] et punctuatim, and a stop is an integral part of the text.

For Millingen, his brother the archaeologist James Millingen (1774-1845), James's son Julius Michael Millingen (1800-1878), the antiquary and diplomat William Richard Hamilton (1777-1859), and the recipient the editor of the Literary Gazette William Jerdan (1782-1869), see the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, with thin strip of paper from mount attached to the reverse of the second leaf, which is endorsed by Jerdan ('1847 | Dr Millingen | death of his brother in No 1501 –'), and has attached to it a printed slip with a biographical note.