CENTURY

Autograph Note Signed ('George A Lawrence') to unnamed publisher [Tinsley?].

Author: 
George A. Lawrence [George Alfred Lawrence] (1827-1876), English novelist
Publication details: 
Undated. On monogrammed letterhead of 25 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, London.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Six lines. Mourning border. Text clear and complete. Aged, creased and a little grubby. Asking to be sent '4 copies of "The Butterfly", if ready', and if not to be told 'when it will be'. Lawrence published his 'Breaking a Butterfly; Or Blanche Ellerslie's Ending' anonymously by Tinsley in 1869.

Autograph Letter Signed ('George A Lawrence') to an unnamed publisher [George Routledge?].

Author: 
George A. Lawrence [George Alfred Lawrence] (1827-1876), English novelist [Miss Caulfield; George Routledge]
Publication details: 
22 March 1858; Plymouth.
£35.00

16mo (leaf dimensions 13 x 10 cm), 3 pp. Bifolium. Twenty-eight lines. Text clear and complete. On aged and lightly creased paper with small closed tear in margin (not affecting text). He has been asked by 'Miss Caulfield' to 'perform the ceremony of "introduction" with a view to your publishing (if you approved of it) a work she has lately written [...] <"Janet de Rinzy?">'.

Chapbook entitled 'The History of the Earl of Derwentwater Containing His Life, Trial, Sentence, & Execution, Also A Copy of Pathetic Verses ['Lines on the Fate of Lord Derwentwater'].'

Author: 
William Reay Walker, Newcastle printer [James Ratcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater; Charles Lolley; chapbooks]
Publication details: 
No date [c.1862]. 'Newcastle-on-Tyne: Wm. R. Walker, Printer, Arcade.'
£120.00

12mo (roughly 16.5 x 9.5 cm): 24 pp. Good, on aged paper, with slightly dogeared corners. No stitching or stapling binding the leaves together. An attractive production, more sophisticated than is usual with a chapbook. Crisply printed in small type. Title enclosed within a decorative border and containing vignette of the royal coat of arms. Headed, in a small neat contemporary hand, 'Purchased at Whitby. | 30 Aug 1862'. The poem 'Lines on the Fate of Lord Derwentwater' (pp.18-19, 24 lines in six stanzas) begins 'How mournful feeble Nature's tone, | When Dilston Hall appears;'.

Autograph Note Signed ('Henry Newbolt') to Routledge.

Author: 
Sir Henry Newbolt (1862-1938), English poet [George Routledge & Sons, publishers]
Publication details: 
13 October 1906; on letterhead of 23, Earl's Terrace, Kensington, W.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Thanking them for the cheque, and returning the 'form of permission to reprint the four poems, signed' (not present).

Autograph Card Signed ('H C Beeching') to Messrs Swan Sonnenschein & Co., publishers.

Author: 
Henry Charles Beeching (1859-1919), Dean of Norwich and author
Publication details: 
Postmarked 21 June 1905; on letterhead '3, Little Cloisters, Westminster.'
£23.00

Plain card, roughly 8.5 x 11 cm. Five lines of text. A little grubby, but good. Asking for his manuscript, so that he can 'correct the proof of the Introduction to Crashaw. It was written so many years ago that I can't always recall what I wrote'.

Typed Letter, signed by 'C B', 'per W. & G. Foyle, Ltd, to C. F. Bradshaw, headmaster of the Council School at Cresswell, Worksop, Derbyshire.

Author: 
Foyles Bookshop [W. & G. Foyle Ltd of 119-125 Charing Cross Road, London booksellers]
Publication details: 
18 March 1939; on 'W & G FOYLE LTD' letterhead.
£22.00

4to, 1 p. Good, on lightly aged and creased paper with minor rust stain from paperclip at head. Letterhead, in light and dark blue, featuring globe and the mottos 'BOOKSELLERS TO THE WORLD' and 'STOCK OF NEARLY THREE MILLION VOLUMES'. Thirteen lines of text. Bradshaw is clearly unhappy at the price asked for a copy of Cox's 'Memorials of Old Derbyshire'. 'The writer would point out that we received six reports regarding this book from various clients, but in no case at a price allowing us to quote below 15/-.

Autograph Letter in the third person to the publishers Swan Sonnenschein & Co.

Author: 
Sir Charles Hallé [born in Germany as Carl Halle] (1819-1895), English conductor and pianist
Publication details: 
30 June 1890; Sydney, Australia.
£35.00

12mo, 1 p. Twelve lines of text. Clear and complete. On aged and grubby paper. A formal letter in the third person. He has 'received with surprise the enclosed invoice. [not present] He has given no orders for any copies of the work & must therefore decline to accept the parcel, should it have been sent out to him in Australia.' If it is 'lying at his London house' he will forward it to the firm 'on his return home'.

Autograph Signature ('F. Palgrave') on fragment of letter.

Author: 
Sir Francis Palgrave (1788-1861) [born Francis Ephraim Cohen], English historian and antiquary, best-known for his poetry anthology 'The Golden Treasury'.
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

On piece of grey wove paper cut into a rough rectangle, 5 x 8 cm. Good, but with light traces of glue from previous mounting on reverse. Reads '<...> | I have honour to remain | Dear Sir | Yr obt. & hble. Servt | F. Palgrave', with the flourish to the 't' of 'Servt' forming the top horizontal stroke to the 'F.' in Palgrave's signature. Reverse reads '<...> | In conformity <...> | my letter to you <...> | July last, I requir<...> | my name may be <...>'.

Autograph Signatures of Colburn, Shee, North and Colnaghi, removed from Artists' Benevolent Fund application.

Author: 
Henry Colburn (1784-1855), bookseller and publisher; Sir Martin Arthur Shee (1769-1850), President of the Royal Academy; Peter North; Dominic Colnaghi (1790-1879), printseller
Publication details: 
1841
£28.00

On one side of a piece of paper roughly 8 x 12.5 cm. Good, lightly aged. Reads ' Henry Colburn | 13 Gt Marlborough Street | Martin Arthur Shee | Peter North 22 Soho Square | Dominic Colnaghi'. Fragment of docketed manuscript record of the case on the reverse: '<...> 830 | <...>nes O'Connor | <...>ent Case | <...>y 12th. 1841'.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Lewis Melville') to Messrs George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.

Author: 
Lewis Melville' [Lewis S. Benjamin (1874-1932)], English author and actor
Publication details: 
5 August 1903; 1 Doughty Street, Mecklenburgh Square, W.C., on cancelled letterhead of the Weekly Dispatch.
£28.00

12mo, 1 p. 7 lines of closely-written text. Clear and complete. On aged and slightly-grubby paper. He has received their letter regarding his 'Life of Thackeray', and appreciates 'the reason for your delay in deciding whether or no to issue a cheap edition. Undoubtedly the inclusion of my book in a series would benefit us both, & I hope Mr Lee may be able to make me an offer.'

Proclamation of His Majesty King Edward VII.' [i.e. his accession to the throne on the death of Queen Victoria]

Author: 
[Royal proclamation of the accession of King Edward VII to the throne on the death of his mother Queen Victoria]
Publication details: 
Given at the Court of St. James's this 23rd day of January, in the year of Our Lord 1901.'
£180.00

Printed on one side of a piece of vellum-style paper, dimensions roughly 270 x 205 mm. Ruckled and heavily discoloured: now light-brown in colour. Traces of previous paper mount adhering to blank reverse. Small triangle (edges shorter than 1 cm) chipped away, and repaired with archival tape. Text clear and entire.

Autograph Letter Signed ('A Helps') to his publisher Alexander Macmillan.

Author: 
Sir Arthur Helps (1813-1875), author and Clerk of the Privy Council [Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896), publisher]
Publication details: 
16 January 1867; no place.
£20.00

12mo, 2 pp. 9 lines of text. With mourning border. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He is glad that Macmillan and 'Mr Doulton' are coming to dine with him, but sorry that they 'will be obliged to leave so soon; but it cannot be helped'.

A Letter to the Right Honorable the Lord Brougham and Vaux, &c. &c. &c. On the late Decision of the Earldom of Devon.

Author: 
T. C. B.' [Thomas Christopher Banks; Henry Peter Brougham, Lord Brougham and Vaux; the Earl of Devon]
Publication details: 
London: Printed for J. Wilson, 19, Great May's Buildings, St. Martin's Lane. 1831. [G. Norman, Printer, Maiden Lane, Covent-Garden.]
£120.00

8vo: 24 pp. Stitched as issued. Inscribed at the head of the title-page 'For Mr Walpole'. Text clear and entire. Good, on foxed paper, with one dog-eared corner. A couple of manuscript annotations, one in the form of a footnote, and one correction, whether by the inscriber or recipient unclear. The author defends his claim that he 'cannot believe otherwise, than had the claimant to the Devon Peerage been an humble individual, less affluent, and less powerfully connected, he would not have succeeded in his claim'. Scarce: the only copies on COPAC at the Durham and the British Library.

Autograph Note, in the third person, to his publisher Alexander Macmillan.

Author: 
Richard Monckton Milnes, Baron Houghton (1809-1885), author and politician [Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896), publisher]
Publication details: 
8 November [no year, but after 1863]; 16 Upper Brooke Street [London].
£20.00

12mo, 2 pp. 13 lines of text. Good, on light-aged paper. He has been 'asked by many persons for copies of his speech at the Cambge. Union Socy.', and if 'Messrs. Macmillan cared to print it, he would revise it, no report having been correct'. He wonders 'whether the whole proceedings should not be added, with some of the newspaper letters which have been carried'. Milnes was created Baron Houghton in 1863. In 1866 Macmillan published 'The Cambridge Union Society, Inaugural Proceedings', edited by G. C. Whiteley.

Numbers One and Two in 'The Kingsway Series of Work and Time Tables'; number one titled 'Scheme of Work for a Rural School' and number two 'Time-tables for a Rural School. (Complementary to "Scheme of Work for Rural School." '

Author: 
Kingsway Series, Evans Brothers, Sardinia House [rural schools; twentieth-century British education]
Publication details: 
[1916.] Evans Bros., Ltd., Sardinia House, Kingsway, London. [Number Two printed by 'St. Clements Press, Ltd., Portugal Street, Kingsway, W.C.']
£56.00

Both items 4to, 4 pp. Each a bifolium. Text clear and complete on aged, foxed and lightly-creased paper. Both items in small print, the first covering topics from Clay-Modelling to Needlework. Of interest is the section on 'Hygiene (Bare Outline)' which warns against ' "Chewing," harm of "bolting" food, over-eating, dangers of alcoholic liquors'. Number Two contains four time-tables divided into two groups: 'I. - Mixed Department' and 'II. - Infants'; and 'For a Rural School of 40 Scholars.', 'I. - Upper Division' and 'II. - Lower Division'. Scarce.

Autograph Letter Signed ('L. B. Walford.') to 'Dr. Macmillan' [a member of the publishing house?].

Author: 
L. B. Walford [Lucy Bethia Walford, daughter of John Colquhoun (1805-1885)] (1845-1915), novelist and artist
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1873 and 1885]. On letterhead Hawthornden, Willaston, Chester, cancelled and amended in manuscript to 'Arrochar House, Arrochar, N.B. [Scotland]'
£30.00

12mo: 4 pp. Bifolium with mourning border. 30 lines of text. Good. She has heard that he has 'been good enough to speak kindly of "Pauline" so far as it has gone', and wonders whether he would distribute, to 'such of yr. Friends as belong to Circulating Libraries', cards 'to let people know in time to order the book before it is out'. Her family are pleased that Macmillan has 'been able to spend a night at this beautiful sad home - It did my Father good, I know.

Autograph Note Signed ('G O Trevelyan') to the publisher Alexander Macmillan

Author: 
Sir George Otto Trevelyan (1838-1928), politician and author [Alexander Macmillan (1818-1896), publisher]
Publication details: 
Undated [after 1864]; Wallington, Newcastle.
£25.00

12mo, 1 p. Four lines of text. Good, on aged paper with watermarked date '<...>864'. 'If the "Macaulays" have not gone yet, would you send them here, directed to me.' Trevelyan was nephew of the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, of whom he published a biography in 1880.

Mauritius; Or, The Isle of France: Being an Account of the Island, Its History, Geography, Products, and Inhabitants.

Author: 
Rev. Francis P. Flemyng [Mary Addison]
Publication details: 
[1862.] London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; Sold at the Depositories; 77, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields; 4, Royal Exchange; 48, Piccadilly; and by all booksellers. [London: R. Clay, Son, and Taylor, Printers.]
£220.00

12mo: xiv + 256 + [ii] pp. Detailed fold-out map of the island, in black, blue and pink. Frontispiece and seventeen illustrations. A tight copy on lightly-aged paper, in worn original embossed green cloth binding, gilt. Map creased and with short closed tear. A nice copy of an interesting little book, bearing the bookplate of the botanist Mary Addison, to whom it was presented, according to an inscription on the front free endpaper, by the Reverend J. Hoding on 30 August 1867. A few neat synoptic notes in the margin, presumably by Addison. Four-page SPCK catalogue at rear.

A Letter to the Protestant Dissenters of England & Wales. [Education: and recent educational publications.]

Author: 
Rev. Robert Ainslie (c.1802-1876), Secretary of the Congregational Board of Education
Publication details: 
London: John Snow, 35, Paternoster-row. [Dated, p.53: 'Mornington Road, Regent's Park, February 1st, 1847.' Printed by J. Unwin, Bucklersbury.]
£180.00

8vo: 55 pp. Disbound. Tight, on aged, grubby paper, with wear to the title-leaf, which has a 7cm closed tear along the spine. Inscribed at head of title-page: 'Rev. S. Martin wh ye Authors Affec regards'. An informed discussion, with footnotes, tables and statistics, of the desirability of the education of the poor, by a correspondent of Charles Darwin. Excessively scarce: no copy at the British Library, and the only copy on COPAC at King's College, London.

Studi d'Indianistica in Italia dal 1911 al 1938. [Indian studies in Italy from 1911 to 1938.]

Author: 
Giulia Porru [India; Indian studies in Italy; Italian bibliography]
Publication details: 
Pubblicazioni della R. Universita degli Studi di Firenze Facolta di Lettere e Filosofia. - III Serie - Volume X. Firenze [Florence] - Felice le Monnier - Editore - MCMXL-XVIII'.
£85.00

4to: viii + 257 pp. In original grey printed wraps. Internally tight, on lightly-aged and foxed paper. Wraps spotted and worn, with chipping to extremities. The preface describes the work as 'una bibliografia descrittiva degli studi di Indianistica fatti in Italia nel periodo che va dal 1911 al 1937.' A descriptive bibliography of Indian studies in Italy, 1911 to 1937. Scarce in Britain: COPAC lists copies at the British Library, Oxford and SOAS.

Autograph Letter Signed to 'Mr Disspain'.

Author: 
Joan Hassall (1906-1988), English wood-engraver
Publication details: 
Undated. On letterhead of 88 Kensington Park Road, London W.11.
£56.00

12mo: 1 p. Eight lines of text. Good, though creased. Letterhead printed with the words 'Joan Hassall' and a 5 cm short rule decorated with a tiny dove. She apologises for the delay in sending 'this signature': 'I lost your nice little piece of paper, and then I broke my pen.' Disspain's 'letters of appreciation' give Hassall 'very real pleasure' and she is 'most grateful' for his 'good opinion'.

Etching of the church of St Mary-le-Strand, London, and surrounding streets. Signed in pencil 'Hanslip Fletcher.'

Author: 
Hanslip Fletcher (1874-1955), English engraver [Emery Walker]
Publication details: 
Dated 1912. 'Copyright A. D. Power. Emery Walker Ph.sc.'
£56.00

Printed in brown on a piece of watermarked laid paper, 29 x 36 cm. Dimensions of image 18 x 22 cm. On lightly-creased paper, with a few short closed tears to margins at extremities. A bustling scene, from the top storey of a building, showing the traffic of coaches, carriages and carts around the church, which is seen from the front with St Paul's Cathedral in the background. In addition to the pencil signature, the print has the dated facsimile signature 'Hanslip Fletcher 1912'.

Handbill, with diagram, expounding the aims of the Society, headed 'Meetings along the Line of Docks'.

Author: 
Society for the Taxation of Land Values, Liverpool [nineteenth-century land reform; Victorian radical socialism]
Publication details: 
Undated [circa 1900]. 'Printed by C. Tinling & Co., 53, Victoria Street, and Published by the Society for the Taxation of Land Values, 4, Preeson's Row, Liverpool.'
£85.00

12mo bifolium (leaf dimensions 22 x 14 cm): 4 pp. Text clear and complete, on lightly-aged and grubby paper with wear to extremities. The first pages includes a section beginning 'Land in Liverpool has been sold at £226 the square yard; £1,093,840 an Acre! | PAY YOUR RENTS! and YOUR RATES!! | You must Pay them or be Put Out!!! | But when you pay, think what you are paying for: [...] The Liverpool Stock Exchange had to pay Three Shillings and Sixpence for every square inch of the land facing Exchange Street and corner of Dale Street. There are over 6 1/4 million square inches in an acre!

The True Principal of Population; Trade, Profits, Wages, Employment, and the Land Laws.

Author: 
T. R.' [population; land reform; Sir Robert Arthur Arnold; Manchester radical politics; economics]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1880 and 1885]. Manchester: Abel Heywood and Son, 56 & 58, Oldham Street.
£200.00

12mo, 15 pp. Stitched as issued. Text clear and complete on aged, worn and foxed paper. Can be dated from references in text, and from quotation on title from 'Arthur Arnold, M.P.' (Arnold's career in the House of Commons ending in 1885). Carries a few contemporary marks in light pencil, and a column in shorthand on the blank reverse of the last leaf. Excessively scarce: no copy in the British Library, on COPAC or on WorldCat.

Farmer Brown's Blunders; and the London Director's Report of Wheal Blue Bottle.

Author: 
J. T. Tregellas [John Tabois Tregellas (1792-1863)] [Cornwall; Cornish dialect poetry; the West Country]
Publication details: 
[1860] Truro: Printed by James R. Netherton, 7, Lemon Street. ['Third Edition. - Price Sixpence.']
£220.00

12mo: 26 pp paginated 101-126. Stitched. In original worn, creased and grubby green printed wraps. Internally clean, except for the first two leaves, both of which are grubby, with loss to the first leaf affecting two lines of text. 'Farmer Brown's Blunders' is a dialect poem, with explanatory footnotes; the other item is a spoof letter by 'Hannibal Hollow'. There are no records of first or second editions of this item, or of any other edition in which the two pieces are printed together. Scarce: the only copy on COPAC, dated to 1860, at the British Library.

Wood's Edition. Napoleon's Book of Fate. [with two woodcuts, including one on cover of David's 'Napoleon crossing the Alps']

Author: 
J. T. Wood [Joseph Thomas Wood (d.1874)] [Napoleon Bonaparte; fortune-telling; astrology; oraculum; chap book]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1858 and 1874]. London: Published by J. T. Wood, 278, Strand.
£150.00

12mo: 8 pp, unpaginated. Stitched. In original green printed wraps. Text and illustrations clear and complete, on browned high-acidity paper with damp staining at head. Wraps foxed and with slight chipping to extremities. The cover features a striking crude woodcut (12 x 9 cm) of David's 'Napoleon crossing the Alps'. The first page features another woodcut (9 x 7 cm) of a martial figure on horseback, with sword drawn.

No. 8 Catalogue of Coins & Medals comprising: Ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Early British, Anglo-Saxon, English, Irish, Scotch, etc. in Gold, Silver, and Copper, offered for sale by J. Verity, Earlsheaton, Dewsbury.

Author: 
J. Verity of Earlsheaton, Dewsbury, nineteenth-century dealer in coins and medals [Victorian numismatics]
Publication details: 
[circa 1875] Dewsbury: Alfred Green & Son, Bond Street.
£150.00

12mo: 50 pp. Stapled. In original green printed wraps. Engraving of both sides of the 'Pontefract Siege Shilling' on title, with 38 engravings of both the obverses and reverses of coins in text. Printed on light-blue paper. Internally tight and clean, with rusty staples, foxing to edges and wear and chipping to the faded and spotted wraps. Blank back wrap loose and repaired. Scarce: no copy in the British Library or on COPAC, although there is a copy among the Fitzwilliam coin catalogues. Another Verity catalogue, from the 1870s, is in the V & A Library.

The Sickness Accident and Life Association Limited. Prospectus.

Author: 
The Sickness Accident and Life Association Limited [Friends Provident; life insurance; actuarial science]
Publication details: 
Foreword' dated 'Edinburgh, December, 1897.' [Printed by Morrison and Gibb Limited, Edinburgh.]
£45.00

12mo (leaf dimensions 13 x 9 cm): 62 pp. Folded 'Proposal' tipped in on perforated stub. Sewn into cream wraps, printed in red. Text clear and complete. Internally tight on lightly-aged paper. In worn and grubby wraps with a few ink notes on front. Index on p.ii (reverse of front wrap) gives sections (each with subsections) devoted to Sickness Department, Accident Department, Employers' Liability and Accidents to Workmen, Indemnity and Third Party Insurance, Fidelity Guarantees, and Life Department. Also lists Directors, Office-Bearers, Head Office and Branches.

Detailed coloured hand-drawn plan of a broad gauge locomotive, with dimensions, on large piece of cloth headed 'F.C.G.O.A.', and text in Spanish and English, designed by the Stephenson Locomotive Works for the Argentine Great Western Railway Company.

Author: 
Robert Stephenson & Co. Ltd., Locomotive Works, Darlington [railway engines; F.C.G.O.A.; Ferro Carril Gran Oeste Argentino; the Argentine Great Western Railway Company]
Publication details: 
Stamped 'ROBERT STEPHENSON & CO. LTD. | LOCOMOTIVE WORKS | 29 APR. 1907| DARLINGTON'.
£185.00

An attractive item, on one side of a piece of cloth roughly 57 x 94 cm. Good: lightly aged and creased. Side section of the engine roughly 21 x 61 cm, with dimensions in grey, outlines and other lines in purple, one block in pink and red, and a few small parts in blue. Also a cross-section from the front, of the left side of the train only, roughly 22 x 9.5 cm. Beneath the heading 'F.C.G.O.A. are six lines of neatly-written text, the first reading 'Trocha de. 1676<?> Gauge.

Engraving ('Benjamin Green sculpt.') in red and black, with explanatory letterpress, titled 'A View Of The Library Founded In 1429 By RICHARD WHITTINGTON.'

Author: 
Benjamin Green ('Pott') [Thoams Pennant; Richard ('Dick') Whittington; London topography; Christ's Hospital; libraries]
Publication details: 
London Pubd. Jany. 1 1793 by N Smith Gt. Mays Buildings St. Martins Lane.'
£56.00

Printed on one side of a piece of thick wove paper, 21 x 17.5 cm. At the head of the page is the engraving, enclosed in an oval 12.5 cm high and 15 cm wide. A clear impression of a scarce print, on grubby, spotted paper. Within the border is engraved in red 'Part of Christs Hospital taken from the Stewards Office 1765.' According to the six lines of copperplate text at the foot of the page 'It was 129 feet long and 31 feet in breadth, [...] It was furnished with Books at the expence of £556 . 10s of which £400 were given by the founder, and the remainder by Dr.

Syndicate content