CENTURY

[Printed pamphlet.] The General Practice of Plumbing in Manchester & District, by Wm. Jaffrey, R.P., 27, Booth Street, Manchester. Being a Paper read at a Meeting convened by the Manchester, Salford, and District Council of Registered Plumbers.

Author: 
William Jaffrey, R.P., 27 Booth Street, Manchester, of the Registered Plumbers' Council
Publication details: 
Held at the Technical School, Manchester, March 11th, 1891.
£95.00

8pp., 12mo. Stapled. In brown printed wraps. On brittle, high-acidity paper, with staining from staples, in stained and worn wraps. After some 'Introductory Remarks' he discusses 'Light Materials in New Work', 'Position of Cold-Water Cistern', 'Position', 'The Runs of Pipes', 'The W.-C.', 'The W.-C. Supply' ('two gallons of water is not sufficient to wash away the soil into the main drain.

Autograph Note in the third person from the botanist and archaeologist Charles Cardale Babington, thanking 'Miss Barnard' [Alicia Mildred Barnard] for a list of 'plants found near Royston'.

Author: 
Charles Cardale Babington (1808-1895), botanist and archaeologist [Alicia Mildred Barnard (1825-1911), Norwich botanist; Henry Fordham (1803-1894), botanist]
Publication details: 
St John's College, Cambridge. 25 October 1859.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper, with minor traces of glue from mount still adhering. Numbered at head in manuscript. The message reads: 'Mr. Charles C. Babington presents his compliments to Miss Barnard and begs to thank her for the very full list of plants found near Royston which she has so kindly sent to him through the hands of Mr. Fordham.'

Autograph Letter Signed from the author Edith Sichel, thanking Lady Mary Ponsonby for sending the 'adorable manuscript' of her memoir, and discussing the way in which the 'whole Court lives' in it.

Author: 
Edith Sichel [Edith Helen Sichel] (1862-1914), English author, sister of the writer Walter Sichel (1855-1933) [Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby [née Bulteel], Lady Ponsonby (1832–1916)]
Publication details: 
On her letterhead at 353 East 72nd Street, New York 21. 29 December 1947.
£85.00

4pp., 12mo. 49 lines. Bifolium. On aged and creased paper, with remains of stub. In what appears to be a reference to the memoir by Lady Ponsonby that was published after her death (London: John Murray, 1927), Sichel (at the risk of appearing 'an impertinent Bore') thanks her 'for that adorable manuscript': 'You have made me so happy these days, transported me so entirely to the world I longed to see, that it would really be ungrateful not to say how much I thank you. The whole Court lives, and the Queen most of all, & Prince Albert.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Flora C. Stevenson') from Flora Clift Stevenson to 'Ella', asking for 'somebody to play with me'.

Author: 
Flora Clift Stevenson [Flora C. Stevenson] (1839-1905), Scottish social reformer and educationalist, one of the first women in the United Kingdom to be elected to a school board
Publication details: 
On her monogrammed letterhead of 13 Randolph Terrace, Edinburgh. 'Saturday' [no date].
£65.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. The letter reads: 'My dear Ella: | It wd be very kind if you cd come to see me as I have never recovered & am downstairs again. - Will you come to tea to-day or tomorrow. I want somebody to play with me!'

Autograph Letter Signed from the animal painter Gourlay Steell ('the Scottish Landseer') to eccentric art patron John Christie of Cowden

Author: 
Gourlay Steell (1819-1894), animal painter, 'the Scottish Landseer' [John Christie (1822-1902) of Cowden, art patron and eccentric; William Brodie (1815-1881), Scottish sculptor]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 4 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh. 1 November 1881.
£120.00

4pp., 12mo. Thirty lines. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with traces of mount at head of second page. Steell is enclosing 'a catalogue of the most recent works of the kind you desire', and points out that 'the short biographical sketches of deceased Scottish artists, in connection with our catalogue, was only printed [last word underlined] by Messrs. Constable'. He ends by offering his 'warmest wishes for the married couple' - in 1881 Christie's seventeen-year-old daughter Alice married Robert King Stewart, KBE, of Murdostoun Castle, Lanarkshire.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Helen F. Martin') from the English actress Helen Faucit Martin, Lady Martin, to Mrs Paget, arranging a visit.

Author: 
Helen Faucit Martin [born Helena Faucit Saville] (1817-1898), Lady Martin, English actress, wife of Sir Theodore Martin (1816-1909)
Publication details: 
31 Onslow Square. 27 May [no year].
£35.00

2pp., 16mo. Bifolium. On monogrammed letterhead. In fair condition, with traces of glue from mount still adhering. She proposes a date for a meeting, adding: 'Will Miss Paget come in the evening & bring a young friend with her if she pleases?'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Newcastle') from Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton (1811-1864), 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, declinging an invitation, and complaining of the effect of his public duties on his private affairs.

Author: 
Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham-Clinton (1811-1864), 5th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne
Publication details: 
Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire. 14 April 1855.
£35.00

4pp., 12mo. 26 lines. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Addressing an unnamed male correspondent, he begins by declining his correspondent's 'kind invitation' to his visit his house, 'on the ground that has already compelled me to refuse similar hospitality on that occasion from Mr. Wright and others'.

[Printed pamphlet.] Empire "Socialism" By R. Palme Dutt.

Author: 
R. Palme Dutt [with foreword by 'T. B.', i.e. Thomas Bell (1882-1944), representative of the Communist Party of Great Britain to the Comintern's Executive Committee]
Publication details: 
Published by the Communist Party of Great Britain, 16 King Street, Covent Garden, WC2. ['Printed by Centropress Limited (T.U. Throughout) 168, Camberwell Road, London S.E.5.'] February 1925.
£120.00

20pp, 12mo. Stapled. In red printed wraps, with cartoon on cover showing giant worker sweeping away miniature capitalists. In fair condition: lightly-aged and with central vertical fold. Scarce: the only copies on COPAC at the British Library and Warwick University.

Autograph Note Signed ('E Cobham Brewer. -') from Rev. Dr Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, compiler of 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable', thanking an unnamed correspondent for taking an interest in his work.

Author: 
Rev. Dr Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-1897), compiler of 'Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'
Publication details: 
Ruddington, Nottingham. 25 January 1881.
£45.00

1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'Dear Sir | I have to thank you for the courtesy of your letter received by post this morning. It is always gratifying to an author when another takes an interest in what he has written'.

Holograph essay by the Nantwych antiquary T. W. Jones, entitled 'Notices of Richard Brathwayte and his Works.' Accompanied by an Autograph Letter Signed ('T: W: Jones.') from Jones to Rev. Henry Green, regarding Brathwaite.

Author: 
T. W. Jones, Attorney at Law, Barker Street, Nantwich, antiquary [Rev. Henry Green; Richard Brathwaite [Brathwait; Brathwayte; Brathwayt] (1587-1673), English poet, Shakespeare contemporary]
Publication details: 
Holograph essay dated 'T. W. J. | June 1866.' Letter: Barker Street, Nantwich. 3 July 1866.
£400.00

Both essay and letter on aged and brittle paper, with some chipping to extremities (not affecting text). Both are written in a tight, close hand. The letter: 2pp., 12mo.

Engraving titled 'A Curious Piece of Antiquity, On the Crucifixion of Our Saviour and the Two Thieves.' Consisting of a piece of pattern poetry around three crucifixes.

Author: 
John Fenley, Bristol bookseller [pattern poetry]
Publication details: 
'Bristol: Printed for and Sold by J. Fenley, 20, Broad-Mead. (Typ. Brookman.)' No date.
£85.00

Printed on one side of a piece of unwatermarked wove paper, 18 x 20cm. Aged and worn, with a number of closed tears. The poem crosses horizontally and verically through three crucifxes, beginning: 'Behold, O God! INRI vers of my Tears'. The poem was first published around 1765 by W. Bailey, 28 Great Tower-street, London, and was reprinted by several other publishers, with an American version as late as the 1850s. No copy of this edition is present on COPAC. According to BBTI John Fenley was active in Bristol from around 1785 to 1811.

Typed Letter Signed from the Anglo-Jewish novelist Emanuel Litvinoff, thanking Derek Stanford for a review, and discussing the novelist Angus Wilson ('one of the few writers to whom I've written a fan letter') and short story writing.

Author: 
Emanuel Litvinoff (19150-2011), Anglo-Jewish novelist [Derek Stanford (1918-2008), Anglo-Jewish author and critic; Angus Wilson (1913-1991), English novelist]
Publication details: 
36 Byron Court, Mecklenburgh Square, London. 2 July 1973.
£165.00

1p., 4to. He thanks Stanford for sending 'the carbon' of his 'warm review' of Litvinoff's novel ('A Death out of Season'). He missed the article and the note Stanford wrote 'about my autobiographical sequence' in the Scotsman, but is now iinterested to see from the review that Stanford is 'nursing the idea of a 'Forties memoir. Amazingly, few of us have written about the decade. I shall be getting around to it one day also, I hope.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Georg Henschel') from Sir George Henschel, the baritone and pianist, to Lady Thompson, asking her to extend the hospitality to 'Mr. and Mrs. Koecher (and the Misses Koecher)'.

Author: 
Sir George Henschel [born Isidor Georg Henschel] (1850-1934), German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor and composer
Publication details: 
25 Gloucester Road, Regents Park, NW [London]. 15 June 1881.
£40.00

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with strip of tape from previous mounting adhering at the foot of the recto of the second leaf. He asks her to send 'cards for your afternoon Friday' to 'our dear friends Mr. and Mrs. Koecher (and the Misses Koecher)', who would 'enjoy every minute'. He gives the Koecher's address as de Keyser's Royal Hotel, Blackfriars, and ends by conveying his wife's love.

Manuscript receipt, signed ('Arch Forbes') by the war correspondent Archibald Forbes, for £50 from the London publishers Henry S. King & Co., for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of his 'Soldiering and Scribbling'.

Author: 
Archibald Forbes (1838-1900), British war correspondent, born in Scotland [Henry S. King & Co., 65 Cornhill, London publishers]
Publication details: 
Place not stated. 27 June 1872.
£56.00

1p., landscape 12mo. In good condition, on aged paper. Signed by Forbes over a purple one penny Inland Revenue stamp. Reads: '£50 : 0 : 0 | 27th. June 1872. | Received of Messrs: Henry S. King & Co. of 65 Cornhill London, the sum of Fifty Pounds in payment for the right to publish an edition of 1000 copies of "Soldiering and Scribbling" | [signed] Arch Forbes'. The book was published by the firm in the same year as the receipt.

Autograph Letter Signed from the American critic and biographer Eugene Parsons to C. J. Caswell,

Author: 
Eugene Parsons (1855-1933), American author and critic, biographer of George Washington and editor of Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Publication details: 
3612 Stanton Avenue, Chicago. 21 November 189<2>.
£120.00

4pp., 12mo. Worn and stained on four leaves with wear to extremities resulting in slight loss of text, and with at least one leaf lacking. Parsons begins by informing Caswell that he is sending him a copy of the Examiner containing his article on 'Tennyson's Literary Career': 'It was sent to the Editor only a few days after the poet's death when I knew nothing about the title or contents of the new book of poems.' He discusses his plans to insert the article when he republishes his pamphlet (Parsons' 'Tennyson's Life and Poetry' appeared in 1892, with a revised edition the following year).

Manuscript letter from 'the undersigned ladies and gentlemen of the "Delia" company', at the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, to Frank Rothsay, signed by sixteen individuals on presenting him with a token of appreciation of his management.

Author: 
Frank Rothsay, Victorian actor-manager of the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, and the Borough Theatre, Stratford
Publication details: 
Tyne Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne. 5 October 1889.
£80.00

1p., foolscap 8vo. Stained, worn and creased, but a unique memento of a Newcastle institution and Grade I listed building, founded in 1867 as the Tyne Theatre and Opera House, and now bearing the euphonious name of the Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre.

Autograph Card Signed ('Geo R Sims') from the dramatist George R. Sims thanking Thomas Hutchinson for a letter, with reference to a visit to Liverpool.

Author: 
George R. Sims [George Robert Sims] (1847-1922), English dramatist and author [Thomas Hutchinson]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 12 Clarence Terrace, Regent's Park, NW [London]. 7 September 1900.
£30.00

The letterhead includes a facsimile of Sims's signature. Six lines, on one side of the card. Addressed at foot to 'Thos Hutchinson Esq.' Fair, on aged paper, with strip of gummed paper from mount at head of blank reverse. He sends 'a thousand thanks' for Hutchinson's 'kind letter on Sep 2', which he would have answered earlier, had he not been 'away at Liverpool'. He concludes: 'Your good wishes lay upon my table to welcome me home.'

Autograph Letter Signed ('Louisa Parr') from the Victorian novelist Mrs Louisa Sarah Ann Parr (pseudonym 'Mrs. Olinthus Lobb'), regarding the translation into French by the neice of the unnamed female recipient of her novel 'Dorothy Fox'.

Author: 
Louisa Sarah Ann Parr [née Taylor] (c.1848-1903), Victorian novelist under the pseudonym 'Mrs. Olinthus Lobb'
Publication details: 
18 Upper Phillimore Place, Kensington. 27 July 1872.
£40.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium, with leaf dimensions 18 x 11cm. The letter appears complete, in good condition on lightly-aged paper, but a rectangle of about 5.5 x 11cm. (perhaps carrying the recipient's name) has been torn from the bottom of the second leaf.

Printed satirical circular 'To the Ratepayers of this Borough', from 'Wm. Buster, Junr.', concerning his supposed election as a Poor Law Guardian.

Author: 
'Wm. Buster, Junr.', pseudonym [English Poor Law Guardians]
Publication details: 
'Dated, May 1, 1851, Castle Villian.'
£95.00

1p., 12mo. In small type. On aged and creased paper. Signed in type: 'Beggar and Flames! | Gentlemen, | If I am not your Bum Bailiffe, [sic] | For any dirty work, | WM. BUSTER, JUNR.' The circumstances surrounding this spoof are unclear. It begins: 'In fact, I feel it a duty devolving upon me, to return you my sincere thanks for the honour you have done me, in electing me one of your Guardians.' The next paragraph concerns 'the slanderous assertion, which certain persons have industriously circulated, detractive of this honour, in fact, that I am the nominee of my own workman'.

Ten manuscript business letters, seven in English and two in French, from six different British wine merchants, to the French cognac house Messrs. Otard Dupuy & Co., placing orders, reporting news of the Brandy trade in Britain and shipping.

Author: 
[Messrs. Otard Dupuy & Co, French cognac house founded in 1795 by Jean-Baptiste Antoine Otard [later with Léon and Jean Dupuy], based in the Château des Valois (Château de Cognac), Cognac, Charente]
Publication details: 
From Aberdeen, Exeter, London, Liverpool , Stockton, Sunderland. Between 1828 and 1859.
£250.00

The ten items total 19pp., 4to. Each is a bifolium, with the address and postmarks on the reverse of the second leaf. Each is docketed by Otard Dupuy. All ten are in excellent condition, on lightly-aged paper. The six firms are: Bevan & Smith, Liverpool, two letters (both 1850); Christopher Bushell & Co., Liverpool (1859); John Currie, two letters, both in French: London (1828) and Stockton (1828); A. Leveau, three letters: Aberdeen (1849), Exeter (1850) and Sunderland (1850); William Strachan & Co, London (1828); George Wildes & Co., London (1828).

[Printed booklet for children, with illustrations.] The Bunch of Violets.

Author: 
Anonymous [James Burns, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square, London; Levey, Robson, and Franklyn, 46 St Martin's Lane, London]
Publication details: 
London: James Burns, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square. 1840. [Printed by Levey, Robson, and Franklyn, 46 St Martin's Lane, London.]
£150.00

19pp., 32mo. Stitched. In pink printed wraps. Lightly-aged, in worn wraps. The front cover duplicates the only different element being the central vignette. On the rear wrap is a list of twelve children's books, 'Just published, uniform in size with the present', 'The Series to be continued.' Stock engraving at head of first page, showing old man with stick at cottage door, admonishing three children, one of them crying. Final engraving shows man with hat and stick on tired horse, with accompanying dog in foreground and foliage in background.

Manuscript Memorandum of Agreement between J. Hain Friswell and the London publisher Henry S. King, setting out the terms of publication of Friswell's 'The Better Self'. Signed 'J. Hain Friswell'.

Author: 
James Hain Friswell (1825-1878), English essayist and novelist [Henry S. King & Co., publishers, 65 Cornhill, London]
Publication details: 
22 October 1874.
£56.00

1p., foolscap 8vo. On laid paper, with red embossed tax stamp in top left-hand corner. In fair condition, lightly-aged. The memorandum is seventeen lines long, and begins: 'Memorandum of an Agreement made this twenty second day of October One thousand eight hundred and seventy four. Between Mr J. Hain Friswell of Fair House, Bexley Heath, Kent, of the one part and Messrs. Henry S. King & Co. of 65 Cornhill London publishers of the other part. | The said Mr J. Hain Friswell has written a Work entitled "The better self" which he herby assigns to Messrs. Henry S.

Three Autograph Letters Signed and an Autograph Note Signed (all 'David Murray') from the Scottish painter Sir David Murray to 'Mr. Mann'.

Author: 
Sir David Murray (1849-1933), RA, Scottish painter [James Coutts Michie (1859-1919)]
Publication details: 
Three of the four items on letterhead of 1 Langham Chambers, Portland Place, London; the fourth from the Old Red Lion Hotel, Bolton Abbey, Skipton, Yorkshire. 1898, 1899, 1901 and 1905.
£220.00

All four items in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. All written in Murray's distinctive wavy hand. Letter One: 15 December 1898. 3pp., 12mo. He begins by asking Mann to 'send the proceeds for the enclosed cheque into the proper hands to discharge my debt for the pencils'. He 'had to run down by night mail on Sunday night & back on Monday night, to attend the funeral of my dear old friend James Muir who died after a very short illness'. He expresses sympathy for 'Poor Brough'.

Manuscript Victorian directions for a servant in a large establishment, giving twenty instructions, primarily regarding cleaning.

Author: 
[Directions for a nineteenth-century English servant; Victorian domestic service]
Publication details: 
Without date or place. [England, 1860s?]
£60.00

4pp., 16mo. Bifolium. On piece of watermarked laid paper. The first page reads: 'Not to call out to any of the servants but to go up to them when wanted or to ring the call bell. | Care about curtains & chairs - wear white cotton gloves to touch them with | Open shutters gently so as not to disturb the family. | Dont talk loud or laugh loud. - where there are many servants the noise is disagreeable & never allowed.' Towards the end: 'In setting your candle down see that there is nothing over it - such as a picture frame or ornament of any kind -'.

Autograph Letter Signed from 'William Kay', on board 'H.M.S. Tauranga at Sea', to someone (male) to whom he is very affectionate, Louie ("son"??), describing a journey to Australia, with 'a lot of young Blue Jacket Boys on board'.

Author: 
William Kay [HMS Tauranga, Auxiliary Squadron of the Australia Station; Lou Blane; bluejackets]
Publication details: 
'H.M.S. Tauranga at Sea' [undated, but presumably on HMS Tauranga's maiden voyage to Australia, 1890].
£220.00

13pp., 12mo. On three bifoliums and a last single leaf. On aged and worn paper. A semi-literate, but spirited epistle. Little is to be discovered concerning the identity of the writer. Addressed to 'My Darling Son' and signed 'good bye, be good, ever yours and yours alone William Kay', but with a few hints that the letter may not in fact be from a father to his son. Kay begins by stating that he is going to fulfil his promise and write 'a long letter'.

43 black and white photographic prints relating to the production of plywood, including 20 mounted prints by Panajou Frères of Bordeaux, showing a woodyard, with men and women at work.

Author: 
[Panajou Frères, photographers of Bordeaux; French woodyard; plywood]
Publication details: 
Twenty of the prints by Panajou Frères, Bordeaux. [1920s? Others from the 1940s?]
£180.00

The first 40 prints in good condition, and the last three lightly-aged and fair. Each of the 20 Panajou Frères prints (19 landscape and 1 portrait) is mounted on a 24 x 30 cm piece of grey card, blindstamped with the circular monogramme of 'PANAJOU FRES | BORDEAUX'. Depicting an extensive concern, with the outside of a large plant by a country river, and every stage in the production of plywood from log to storage in the factory. A second group of 20 prints (15 landscape and 5 portrait) are unmounted, and measure 18 x 24cm.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Dhruva') from the Anglo-Indian sculptor Dhruva Mistry to Jennifer Jones of Art and Architecture magazine, regarding a planned talk to be titled 'Victoria Square: Work in Progress'.

Author: 
Dhruva Mistry (b.1957), CBE, RA, British sculptor born in India [Jennifer Jones; Art and Architecture magazine]
Publication details: 
On his monogrammed letterhead. 14 September 1993.
£180.00

1p., 8vo. Good, on lightl-aged paper. He thanks her for her telephone call, and hopes to give 'an illustrated talk about my work from 1980 onwards and culmination of themes towards sculptures for Victoria Square'. He will 'touch upon my conscious concerns for outdoor pieces in public, and working with others'. He ends by giving the title of the talk, 'If it is not too late'.

[Victorian satire in form of mock Act of Parliament.] Cap. CCXXXVIII. An Act for the Reform and Regulation of Female Apparel and to Amend and Refrenate the Customs relating to Crinoline and other Artificial Superfluities and the Profusion thereof.

Publication details: 
'This proposed Act is Published by WILLIAM CONEY, 61, Wardour St., Oxford St., London and Sold by all Booksellers. [Session 1859]
£220.00

4pp., folio. Bifolium. On worn and aged paper. Nicely printed, with royal crest at head of first page, above the words 'ANNO VICESIMO SECUNDO & VICESIMO TERTIO | VICTORIAE REGINAE.' The full title reads: 'An Act for the Reform and Regulation of Female Apparel and to Amend and Refrenate the Customs relating to Crinoline and other Artificial Superfluities and the Profusion thereof, with the Powers, Provisions, Clauses, Regulations and Directions, Fines, Forfeitures and Penalties to be observed, applied, practised and put in execution for securing the proper observance of the same.

Printed certificate by J. Dawson of a deposition in the cause between Thomas Bonnell and the Right Hon. Henry Fox: 'Surry. | This is to certify that John Davies came this 8th Day of July, 1761, before me, and made Oath as follows:'

Publication details: 
[London: 1761.]
£120.00

2pp., 12mo. Unpaginated. On laid paper. In fair condition: lightly-aged and creased. The deposition begins: 'JOHN Davies, Servant to Thomas Bonnell, Gent. maketh Oath that on or about the 15th Day of June last Mr. Ford, of Coleman-street-Buildings, who is employed as Attorney or Sollictor [sic] for the Right Hon. Henry Fox, Esq; against the said Thomas Bonell, [sic] gave to this Deponent half a Guinea, and promised him, in case he would bring any Books, Letters or Papers of his said Master's, that Mr. Fox would pay him, and make him an honorable Recompence for so doing.

[Printed temperance pamphlet poem, one of 'New Series of Penny Tracts'.] Poor Betsy Rayner: The Power of Kindness. By Mrs. Sewell, Author of "Mother's Last Words," "Our Father's Care," &c., &c.

Publication details: 
Seventh Edition. Fortieth Thousand. London: Jarrold and Sons, 12, Paternoster Row. [Jarrold and Sons, Printers, Norwich.]
£50.00

16pp., 16mo. Unbound and stitched. On worn and aged paper, with loss to bottom outside corner of title leaf; spine strengthened with contemporary gummed paper. On reverse of title is a page of advertisements for 'Household Tracts for the People'.

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