CENTURY

Writers Against Apartheid [broadsheet magazine containing poems by MacDiarmid, MacNeice, Empson]

Author: 
I. F. White, editor, 'Writers Against Apartheid' [South Africa; racism; Sean O'Casey; Hugh MacDiarmid; Louis MacNeice; William Empson]
I. F. White, editor, 'Writers Against Apartheid'
Publication details: 
Printed by Villiers Publications Ltd., Ingestre Road, London, N.W.5.
£280.00
I. F. White, editor, 'Writers Against Apartheid'

Broadsheet bifolium, 4 pp. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper, worn along fold lines. Poetry collection, containing twenty-eight poems by writers including 'Mazizi Kunene (In Exile, London, 1960)' and Hugh MacDiarmid, whose two poems have the footnote 'We are especially pleased to print these two new poems by Hugh McDiarmid, contributed despite the painful after effects of his recent car smash. We wish him a speedy and complete recovery.' Masthead endorsement by Sean O'Casey: 'I am with you in all efforts to create perfect race equality the world over.

Autograph Letter Signed H.F. Lee, miscellaneous writer, to Willis P. Hazard, publisher, about the publication of her works

Author: 
Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee (1780-1865), American miscellaneous writer
Autograph Letter Signed  H.F. Lee, writer, to Willis P. Hazard, publisher
Publication details: 
Mount Vernon Street 67, Boston, 9 Sept.1859.
£450.00
Autograph Letter Signed  H.F. Lee, writer, to Willis P. Hazard, publisher

Three pages, 4to, one inch close tears along fold (marks), some marking but text clear and complete, except loss of letters through a hole where the seal was taken off. . . . [It] gives me pleasure that my books have passed into your hands - Though I have not used your references to Publishers here I feel confidence in your arrangements & above all in the sympathy of taste which your letter evinces.

Printed handbill reproducing a letter from Hensley, headed '(From "THE TIMES," October 17, 1888.) | SLOUGH AND M. ARAGO. | TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.', deploring the proposed change of the name of the twon from Slough to Upton Royal.

Author: 
Canon Lewis Hensley (1824-1905), Vicar of Hichin [Slough, Berkshire; Upton Royal]
Printed handbill: Slough and Mr Arago.
Publication details: 
Hitchin Vicarage, Oct. 16, 1888.
£75.00
Printed handbill: Slough and Mr Arago.

On one side of a piece of wove paper, 32 x 24 cm. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged and creased paper, with slight wear to extremities. Headed '(From "THE TIMES," October 17, 1888.) SLOUGH AND M. ARAGO. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.' The letter is thirteen lines long, ephatically printed in good-sized type. Signed in type 'LEWIS HENSLEY. | Hitchin Vicarage, Oct.

Autograph Note Signed ('M. Willson Disher') to the Secretary's Office, Clarendon Press, accompanying a statement of his 'qualifications'.

Author: 
Maurice Willson Disher (1893-1969), British theatre critic and playwright
Autograph Note Signed ('M. Willson Disher') to the Clarendon Press
Publication details: 
16 December 1948. 24 Bradstock Road, Ewell, Surrey.
£56.00
Autograph Note Signed ('M. Willson Disher') to the Clarendon Press

4to, 1 p. Trimming at head has resulted in loss to the first line of Disher's address; otherwise text clear and complete. On lightly-aged and creased paper, with jagged trimming at head and in bottom right-hand corner, and three punch holes to margin. Bearing the stamp of the Secretary's Office, Clarendon Press, Oxford. He is returning the 'corrected typescript' and is setting out his qualfications. The bottom section to the letter contain eight lines of these. Disher describes himself as 'contributor to leading journals on the subject of public entertainments in general'.

Manuscript book of 'Receipts collected by Mrs. Macdonald and to which are added Useful remarks [for the Mistress of a House].'

Author: 
Mrs F. M. Macdonald [Victorian recipes; cookery; cholera]
Manuscript book of 'Receipts collected by Mrs. Macdonald
Publication details: 
[Circa 1849.]
£220.00
Manuscript book of 'Receipts collected by Mrs. Macdonald

4to, 36 pp and a manuscript title-page. All texts clear and complete. Disbound (from a commonplace book?) and apparently complete. Fair, on aged, brittle gilt-edged paper, with a few closed tears (in particular to the last couple of leaves). The book is presumably in Mrs Macdonald's hand, and the only indication to her identity is the final note (see below), signed 'F. M. M.', which shows her to have been an educated member of the middle classes. Divided into three parts. The first part is 'Useful Remarks for the Mistress of a House' (25 pp, paginated from 1 to 23).

Autograph Letter Signed ('Onslow' [Earl of Onslow]) to an unnamed male recipient on servants

Author: 
William Hillier Onslow (1853-1911), 4th Earl of Onslow, British Conservative politician and Governor of New Zealand, 1889-1892.
Autograph Letter Signed ('Onslow' [Earl of Onslow]) to an unnamed male recipient
Publication details: 
23 June [no year]; 'by Richmond to Whitehall', on cancelled Clandon Park letterhead.
£38.00
Autograph Letter Signed ('Onslow' [Earl of Onslow]) to an unnamed male recipient

12mo, 2 pp. Twenty-two lines. Text clear and complete. Regarding his footman Alfred McCloud, who has obtained with the recipient 'as Messenger'. I have taken no steps to fill his place till now & in the middle of the London Season it may be very inconvenient to be without a footman'. His butler is 'taking immediate steps to secure a man', but he would 'be glad to know how far you could meet my convenience in waiting for A. McCloud until I am suited'.

Manuscript journal of a South African lady, 1948, returning after many years in England, including an account of her memories 'of the Cape as a girl'.

Author: 
[South African journal of a returning middle-class lady, 1948]
Manuscript journal of a South African lady, 1948
Publication details: 
Dated 'Bellaire Private Hotel | Fish Hoek | Cape Province | Jan. 18th. / 48.' [18 January 1948]
£380.00
Manuscript journal of a South African lady, 1948

4to, 166 pp. In ruled 'University Exercise Book'. Text clear and complete. On lightly aged paper, tight, in shaky binding with worn boards. The identity of the diarist is unclear. Her husband is named 'Berten', and their are references to 'Minie' (daughter?) and 'Kate' (South African sister-in-law?). A loosely air mail letter may provide a clue to the identity of the diary's author. Dated 30 April 1962, it is written by P. J. Duncan of Newlands to Miss Ruth Ince-Jones (diarist's daughter) of Geneva, Switzerland.

Valuable Works Lately Published, or in course of publication, by Treuttel and Würtz, and Richter, 30, Soho Square.

Author: 
Treuttel and Wurtz, and Richter [Treuttel et Würtz; Wuertz], foreign booksellers in London
Valuable Works Lately Published , , ,  by Treuttel and Würtz, Printed Catalogue
Publication details: 
July, 1833. [ Treuttel and Würtz, and Richter, 30, Soho Square.]
£56.00
Valuable Works Lately Published , , ,  by Treuttel and Würtz, Printed Catalogue

12mo, 16 pp. Unpaginated. Unbound and unstitched. Stabbed as issued. Fair, on lightly aged and worn paper. Extensive descriptions of 62 items, from 'The Mother's Manual; or Illustrations of Matrimonial Economy' to 'History of Russia, and of Peter the Great. By General Count Philip de Segur'. Five items 'In the Press' on the last page. Scarce: no copy in the British Library or on COPAC.

A Case of Sleeping Sickness Studied by Precise Enumerative Methods: Further Observations.

Author: 
Major Ronald Ross, F.R.S., and David Thomson, M.B., Ch.B., D.P.H. [Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine; sleeping sickness]
Ronald Ross, A Case of Sleeping Sickness , pamphlet
Publication details: 
'Reprinted from the Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology Vol. IV, No. 4, March, 1911. Issued by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Liverpool, at the University Press, 57 Ashton Street.
£45.00
Ronald Ross, A Case of Sleeping Sickness , pamphlet

4to, 21 pp and fold-out graph. In original green wraps. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with rusty staples. Describing the case of 'a strong young Englishman, age 26, weight 154 lbs., [who] was infected in N.E. Rhodesia near the River Luangwa in September, 1909'. Fold-out graph of 'Number of Trypanosomes per c.mm.'

Manuscript Letter, signed 'Spotttiswoode & Co., to Hudson, regarding copies of his 'The Second War of Independence in America'.

Author: 
Spottiswoode and Co., Printers & Lithographers, New-Street Square, London [Eduard Maco Hudson, American historian]
Spottiswoode and Co., Printers & Lithographers, Letter
Publication details: 
28 November 1867; on Spottiswoode and Co. letterhead.
£56.00
Spottiswoode and Co., Printers & Lithographers, Letter

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Nineteen lines. Text clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. They have '300 Bound Copies' of the book 'on hand', 'the remainder have been sold, producing £3. 1 6'. States the cost of shipping the books to Hudson.

Part of Autograph Letter Signed ('Tho Hughes') to Twining.

Author: 
Thomas Hughes [Thomas Smart Hughes] (1786–1847), historian [Richard Twining (1772-1857), tea and coffee merchant]
Thomas Hughes, historian, Letter
Publication details: 
15 September 1823.
£36.00
Thomas Hughes, historian, Letter

Strip of paper cut from letter, roughly 19 x 9 cm. Poor, on lightly-stained paper, with small section lacking from the breaking open of the seal, resulting in loss of one word. Postmark and fragment of address on reverse: '<...>d Twining Esqr | <...> Strand | London'. Reads 'Yrs very truly | [signed] Tho Hughes | 15 Sepr 1823 | I was glad to hear so tolerable an account of your father: while life continues <...> him, I hope it will please God to render it tolerable'. From the Twining archives.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Jane Lane.') to 'Mr. Howarth'.

Author: 
'Jane Lane' [pen name of Elaine Kidner Dakers] (1905-1978), English historical novelist
Jane Lane, historical novelist, letter
Publication details: 
29 January 1956; on her Hampstead letterhead.
£28.00
Jane Lane, historical novelist, letter

4to, 1 p. Ten lines. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, with some creasing at head. The delay in replying is due to 'a rather severe attack of influenza'. She has no photograph to send ('I have been meaning to have some new ones taken, but never seem to get time'), but is 'so glad that my books give you pleasure, & I hope that I shall be able to continue to entertain you with them'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Caroline Lucy Scott') to a solicitor, regarding her will.

Author: 
Caroline Lucy Scott [née Douglas], Lady Scott (1784-1857), Scottish novelist
Caroline Lucy Scott, Scottish novelist
Publication details: 
24 January 1840; Petersham, Surrey.
£125.00
Caroline Lucy Scott, Scottish novelist

4to, 2 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and stained paper. Docketed by the recipient on the reverse of the second leaf. The recipient drew up her will in 1819, but 'the many changes from Deaths &c which have since taken place' mean that it 'no longer expresses my wishes in several particulars'. Asks a number of questions. States that she is 'aware that as a married woman I have no right to make a Will but as in the former distribution of my property Sir George Scott authorized my doing so (as you many remember) so he will now any alteration'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Ashby-Sterry') to 'my dear Worth'.

Author: 
Joseph Ashby-Sterry (c.1835-1917), English novelist, poet and artist, contributor to 'The Graphic' under the name 'Bystander'
Joseph Ashby-Sterry, novelist, poet and artist, Letter
Publication details: 
18 July 1872; 3 Plowden Buildings, Temple.
£38.00
Joseph Ashby-Sterry, novelist, poet and artist, Letter

16mo, 1 p. Bifolium. Eight lines. Text clear and complete. On stained, aged paper. An uncommon autograph, written in a distinctive stylised hand in purple ink. Reluctantly announcing his inability to go on 'the Barge trip', which he had looked upon 'as the pleasantest excursion of the year, & alas & alas (not that a lass has any thing to do with my engagement) I shall be unable to be with you'.

Manuscript Letter, in a secretarial hand, signed by Evarts ('Wm M. Evarts'), to E. R. Robinson of the Union Club, New York City.

Author: 
William M. Evarts [William Maxwell Evarts] (1818-1901), US Secretary of State, Attorney General and Senator from New York [Henry Arthur Bright (1830-1884) of Liverpool, English traveller in America]
William M. Evarts, US Secretary of State
Publication details: 
12 November 1879; on letterhead of the Department of State, Washington.
£45.00
William M. Evarts, US Secretary of State

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Very good, on lightly-aged paper. He is sending 'some autograph letters, which I hope may not be without interest to your friend Mr. Henry Bright'. Bright, Hawthorne's closest English friend, toured America in 1852.

Printed certificate ('Diploma'), completed in manuscript and signed by the Secretary James Tod, admitting William Murray of Henderland as a Member of the Society of Arts for Scotland.

Author: 
[James Tod, Secretary, Society of Arts for Scotland; William Murray of Henderland; W. H. Lizars, engraver]
Publication details: 
Edinburgh; 22 January 1834.
£100.00

Printed on the recto of the first leaf of a bifolium. Leaf dimensions 29 x 23.5 cm. Clear and complete. Grubby, and with closed tears to folds and slight damp staining. An attractive production. Ornate heading, with engraved portrait of Minerva in circular medallion (5.5 cm diameter) surrounded by laurel leaves, 'Drawn & Engd. by W. H. Lizars'. Text engraved in copperplate. Reads (with manuscript part in square brackets): 'Edinburgh [23d. January] 18[34,] | At a meeting of the Society held here on the [22d.

Mimeographed typed report by the firm's London office titled 'The Story of Toni Home Permanent Wave and an explanation of Public Relations'.

Author: 
Foote, Cone & Belding Ltd, advertising agency [Toni Home Permanent Wave; hairdressing]
Publication details: 
London: 1948.
£75.00

8vo, 26 pp. In very good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Contained within a blue card folder. Preceded by contents: '1. What is Public Relations? [3 pp] 2. Objectives of Toni Public Relations Plan. [6 pp] 3. Background Story of Toni. [7 pp] 4. Public Relations Releases. [10 pp] 5. The Trade Press follow our line.' [cuttings from three periodicals, including 'Hairdressers' Weekly Journal' and 'New York Times'.] From the collection of the Kent businessman Franklyn Rogers.

Folder of mimeographed typed advertising and promotional reports and memoranda assembled by the firm's London office on behalf of the Watchmakers of Switzerland.

Author: 
Foote, Cone & Belding Ltd, advertising agency [Watchmakers of Switzerland]
Publication details: 
Between 1949 and 1950.
£165.00

All items clear and complete, in a brown card folder, and in good condition on lightly-aged paper, with occasional rust marking. Items are often accompanied by covering letters from members of the agency. Includes, among other items: 'Outline Proposals for Action in the British Market', August 1949 (8vo, 9 pp); 'The British Watch Market', August 1949 (8vo, 19 pp); 'Jewelry News Digest Number 19 | For The Swiss Federation of Watch Manufacturers', November 1949 (8vo, 13 pp); 'Swiss Watch Repair Parts Programme' (8vo, 19 pp); 'Report of F. H. Publicity Montreal Office | Jan. 30th to Feb.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Samuel Hey') to Twining, giving details of an arson attack [on his church?].

Author: 
Samuel Hey (1739-1828), eccentric bibliophile vicar of Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire, known as 'The Hermit' [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant]
Publication details: 
17 January 1822; 'Steeple-Ashton near Trowbridge | Wiltshire'.
£85.00

12mo, 3 pp. Bifolium. Forty-nine lines of text, clear and complete. Good, on lightly-aged paper. In a neat, childish hand. Begins by asking for ten pounds to be paid to the bearer, Thomas Fairfax Carlile, on Hey's account. A 'hand bill' has been 'published on the occasion - but without effect', and fifteen of his 'near neighbours' have - 'without consulting me' - subscribed ten pounds each. 'A man was apprehended - but for want of sufficient evidence he was liberated to appear before the magistrate when called for, upon penalty of 40£.

Autograph Signature ('Clarendon')

Author: 
Thomas Villiers (1709-1786), 1st Earl of Clarendon, British Whig politician and diplomat
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

On piece of laid paper, 1 x 3.5 cm. Fair, on aged paper, with traces of previous mount on reverse, which is docketed in a nineteenth-century hand '1776'.

Abstract of Ferrier's Greek Philosophy [with notice of Ferrier's life].

Author: 
B. R.' [Professor Benjamin H. Rand (1827-1883); James Frederick Ferrier (1808-1864)]
Publication details: 
Without date or place, but with ownership inscription dated 1881.
£125.00

8vo, 20pp. Stitched. Disbound. In original grey printed wraps (with 'VOL. II.' deleted in blue pencil at foot of title). Fair, on aged paper, with wear and loss to grubby wraps. Ownership inscription on front wrap: 'Henry Norman, April 26. 1881. G.18.' Signed in type 'B. R.' at foot of last page. Providing a detailed synopsis of Ferrier's teachings, with a fifteen-line 'Introductory Notice' of his life. Scarce. No copy at the British Library or on COPAC, and the only copy on WorldCat at Harvard.

Manuscript account of 'Revenue as calculated to end of Charter', including reference to St Helena.

Author: 
East India Company [St Helena; Charter of 1833]
Publication details: 
Dated at foot '1845'.
£150.00

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'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Y. Smythies') to Twining, including two translations of 'Bishop Lowth's Maria's Elegy'.

Author: 
Rev. William Yorick Smythies (1816-1910), husband of the Victorian novelist Mrs Gordon Smythies [née Harriette Maria Gordon] (1813-1883) [Richard Twining (1749-1824), tea and coffee merchant]
Publication details: 
17 October 1838; Colchester.
£95.00

4to, 3pp. Bifolium. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with slight loss to second leaf caused by opening of red wax seal (part of which still adheres), and minor nicking to edges. Begins: 'The task you set me was a task indeed [...] my first attempt at translation'. He comments on some of the difficulties involved ('The Cara so often repeated in the original is beautiful in repetition while it's angliciz'd Dear is so degraded by vulgar use').

A Catalogue of a Library of Books, [...] Prints, Books of Prints, Paintings, [...] and miscellaneous Articles, the Property of a Gentleman, removed from Southampton. [priced by auctioneers for proprietor]

Author: 
J. C. & S. Stevens, auctioneers, 38 King Street, Covent Garden [Victorian book auction catalogue; Alexander Hoyes of Bittern Grove, near Southampton]
Publication details: 
Which will be sold by auction, by Messrs. J. C. & S. Stevens, at their Great Room, 38, King Street, Covent Garden, On Thursday, the 18th day of July, 1844. [Alfred Robins, Printer, 101, Long Acre.]
£125.00

8vo, 8 pp. Unbound. Text clear and complete. On aged paper with wear to extremities. According to the title-page the sale contains 'The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Johnson's Poets, Scott's Works, Swift's ditto, Annual Register, British Theatre, and other Works, in various branches of Literature; Prints, Books of Prints, Paintings, Mahogany Cabinets, Antiquities, Gold Repeater, Grand Piano-Forte, by Zeitter'.

Printed notice of relocation, and advertisement for new publications.

Author: 
James Blackwood & Co., London publishers and wholesale stationers
Publication details: 
[Circa 1910.] London: James Blackwood & Co., 12/14 Heneage Lane, Bevis Marks, E.C.
£45.00

4to, 4 pp. Bifolium. Nicely printed with vignette of flowers and ribbons on first page. Fair, on aged paper. The firm, boasting establishment in 1849, is described on the first page as 'late of Lovell's Court, Paternoster Row, E.C.', where the announcement is made 'that they have Transferred their Business to the Above Address'. Six new editions of works are advertised on the following two pages, with details given of contents. The last page advertises 'Blackwood's Diaries for 1911' and 'Blackwood's New Series of Scribbling Diaries'.

Catalogue of Books published by James Blackwood & Co., Publishers & Wholesale Stationers.

Author: 
James Blackwood & Co., Publishers and Wholesale Stationers [trade catalogues]
Publication details: 
[Circa 1910.] London: James Blackwood & Co., 8. Lowell's Court, Paternoster Row, E.C. [amended in manuscript to '12/14 Heneage Lane. E.C.']
£75.00

12mo, 24 pp. Unbound. Text clear and complete. Fair, on aged paper, with rusting to staples. Hundreds of titles, in such series as 'The Unique Library', 'Choice Readings. Books suitable for presents, etc.', 'Universal Library of Standard Authors', 'Blackwood's Edition of the Poets', 'Library of Thoughtful Books' and 'Choice Books for Young Persons'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('James Ramsden') to 'Mr Thompson'.

Author: 
Sir James Ramsden (1822-1896), civil engineer and first mayor of Barrow in Furness
Publication details: 
6 August 1882; on letterhead of Furness Abbey, Lancashire.
£56.00

12mo, 2 pp. On bifolium. In fair condition, lightly-aged and creased. Discussing arrangements for a meeting with Thompson before 14 August, the date of the 'Furness general meeting', after which he is going on 'a months cruise'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('J. Arthur Phillips') to W. N. de Mattos.

Author: 
John Arthur Phillips (1822-1887), mining engineer and metallurgist [Lyon Playfair, Baron Playfair (1818-1898), chemist]
Publication details: 
25 January 1853; on letterhead of 8 Upper Stamford Street, Blackfriars.
£75.00

12mo, 1 p. Text clear and complete. On lightly-aged paper with some creasing and a short closed tear at foot. He sent his report (on 'Wurlich's patent ') to Dr Playfair on 15 December of the previous year. 'With him therefore is all the delay.' Docketed by de Mattos on reverse, including 'Read at Board on 27th Jany 1853'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Edw. Baines') to 'Robt. <Scarbrow?>'.

Author: 
Sir Edward Baines [Edward Baines junior] (1800-1890), nonconformist English newspaper editor and Member of Parliament
Publication details: 
3 Queen Sq | 1st. June <year?>.
£45.00

12mo, 2 pp. In bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Difficult hand. He has not considered the question carefully, but his impression is that 'the Monopoly of the printing of the Holy Scriptures in Scotland and Ireland might cease by the Kings Printers not only without injuring but with benefit to the public'.

Autograph Note in the third person to Simco. With priced list (by Simco?) of engravings on reverse.

Author: 
John Chamberlaine (c.1745-1812), antiquary [John Simco (c.1749-1824), London bookseller]
Publication details: 
Brompton. Friday Morng' [c.1812?].
£95.00

12mo, 1 p. On bifolium. Good, on aged paper. Addressed, on reverse of second leaf, to 'Mr. Simco | Warwick St. | Golden Square.' Asking Simco to send a book 'by the Bearer', as well as ' a remittance upon his account of Holbein', as 'he has some large payments to make at the beginning of next week'.

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