ENGLISH

Paper dimensions roughly 2 x 5 cm. Good, although on discoloured paper, and mounted on piece of slightly larger discoloured paper docketed in pencil 'Sir Abm Hume'. Reads 'Free 274 | [signed] Abram: Hume'.

8vo: 1 p. Good, with slight wear to outer edge, and strip from previous mount neatly adhering to reverse. With name of recipient at head, and docketed on reverse. He has 'seen some charming & useful Leaflets advocating Humanity to Animals' and has been 'led to understand they may be obtained through' his correspondent. He would like a hundred of the leaflets to be sent to him, 'for which I will gladly send stamps'. Hall was a sanctimonious figure, supposedly the model for Dickens's Pecksniff.

Both items quarto. On worn, discoloured paper, with a couple of closed tears to the folds. Pertwee was the author of numerous anthologies for recitation, and these letters presumably relate to his 'Reciter's treasury of prose and drama: serious and humorous' (Routledge, 1904). TLS: 'Provided, of course, that Messrs. Routledge have actually agreed with you to publish the book of humorous prose recitations, I shall be very willing to allow you to reprint any one of the stories the titles of which I give below.

12mo: 1 p. Somewjhhat grubby, but with text clear and entire. Caulfield 'has been misled in supposing Mr Coutts is inclined to collect Hogarth's or any other pictures as he has hardly ever had any taste or inclination for that Line.'

12mo: 1 p. Good, with traces of previous mounting on blank reverse. He thanks her for her kind note, and is glad she enjoyed 'our little tour, in spite of wind and weather'. He has sent off her camera, 'carefully packed', and hopes 'it will arrive without injury. This is not promising weather for your cycling project!'

Quarto: 4 pp. Unbound bifolium. Grubby and creased, with a couple of pin holes and small closed tears, and a little ink staining to the margins (not affecting text). Five illustrations, including full page engraving of two cherubs, entitled 'L'Enfance de l'amour'. Claims that 'neither labour nor expense will be spared to achieve and maintain the highest standard of literary and artistic excellence', and that the magazine will be 'strictly non-political, in the sense that it will champion the views of no particular party'.

16mo: 3 pp. A small bifolium (each leaf 10.5 x 9 cms) on aged paper. Discoloured strip at foot of first leaf, containing four lines of text and the signature, cut away and reattached with archival tissue, with damage to two words (not in signature). Second leaf with minor damage through breaking of seal. Good Penny Red stamp, postmarked in black, and second red postmark. The earliest she can accept the dinner invitation is the following Wednesday.

Pp.[viii].38.[2], disbound, minor damage around stab-holes, foxing, mainly good condition. Scarce. INSCRIBED by the author (part in square brackets lost through trimming): "Countess of Harcourt - From the Au[thor]". A convict transport was presumably named after her ("Countess of Harcourt") - it mainly transported Irish convicts. Spencer was the source of "How noiseless falls the foot of time". "Urania" was "a burlesque of German ghost literature" (DNB).

On piece of paper roughly 3.5 x 5.5 cm. Good firm signature, on lightly discoloured paper. Reads '<...> date hereof. | [signed] J. Aislabie'. Lightly docketed in pencil 'of South Sea notoriety'.

On piece of creased and lightly spotted paper roughly 11 x 11 cm. Reads '<...> for half a Century. | Believe that I remain | Dear Barry | Your's faithfully | [signed] Joseph Kay | Charles Barry Esqr. Kt. | &c &c &c'.

12mo: 2 pp. On creased, discoloured paper, with small closed tear and traces of previous mount adhering to reverse. An amusing, playful letter in a smudged, expansive hand. Reads 'My dear Phil | The other Phil Phil May will Phil the page in Xmas No. This will fill up & give it a fillip. ergo no Caran d'Ache | With Phil we're full. | Ought to be a fine number. | Have asked Phil May to contribute previously - | Well Phil May - but will Phil? | perhaps a wilfil person'. Accompanied by long typed commentary, giving provenance 'From a group of letters to Phil Agnew.

On piece of paper roughly 2 x 3.5 cm. Discoloured, and with traces of glue from previous mounting on reverse. Slight loss to one corner and tiny closed tear at head. Attractive calligraphic signature, with tall, closely-spaced, vertically elongated letters. Top loops of initial 'J' trimmed.

On piece of lightly discoloured paper roughly 4 x 10 cms, with horizontal fold on left. Reads '[typed] Yours sincerely, | [signed] Mary A. Ward.' Docketed in pencil at foot 'Mrs Humphry Ward 1914'.

On blue paper 10 x 18 cms. Good, with trace of previous white paper mount on reverse. Printed receipt, filled in in manuscript. Reads 'No. [32] 5, VIGO STREET, | W.1. | [June 2nd 1937] | Received a DONATION of [One Guinea] | from [The Misses Ruck] | for the ARTISTS' GENERAL BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION. | £[1] : [1] | [-] | [next word deleted] Secretary | [next two lines cyclostyled in purple ink] most gratefully | Laura Knight'.

ITEM ONE: pencil sketch (roughly three inches square) of pensive woman in full dress seated on chair beside table with vase. Good. On reverse of part of envelope addressed to 'H. Wyatt Esqre. | Newman Street | Oxford Street' and postmarked in red ink oval '2 . A NOON . 2 | MY 4 | 1833'. Another postmark in black ink, and wafer still adhering. ITEM TWO: pencil sketch (roughly one inch by one and a half) of trees around long wall with spire in distance. On visiting card of 'Mr. Henry Wyatt' (the sketch over the word 'Wyatt').

8vo: [iv] + 90 + [ii] pp. In original grey printed wraps. The answer to the question in the title is an emphatic 'No!', with the author's argument summed up in the conclusion: 'The publication of these remarks has been elicited by a feeling of indignation and surprise, on learning, that, in any part of the world, and especially of France, the man, whom a former generation cursed, should now be deemed worthy of being canonised.' The author puts his case forcefully and well, marshalling a number of quotations from classical and modern sources.

12mo: 2 pp. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Headed 'Private' and addressed to 'My dear Henry'. Describes Lennox (a close friend of Benjamin Disraeli) as 'a sanguine man'. 'If you thought as I do of the result of the "hundred days" between the present time and the trial of strength in Dec. you would hardly care to move.' He has 'heard nothing from Disraeli of his intentions about the Irish office', but if the opportunity arises he will do what he can to help Lennox. In 1866 Stanley had become Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in his father's third administration.

12mo: 1 p. Lacking strip (two inches by four) at foot, bearing text. Otherwise good. A formal letter in the third person. Asks Colburn to 'send him an answer to his last [underlined] Communication'. He has 'completed the Manuscript of the Work [presumably 'Narrative of the war in Germany and France, in 1813 and 1814', 1830], except the winding up in a few Pages <...>'.

8vo: 8 pp. Stapled and unbound. In original grey printed wraps with rusted staples. Grubby and dogeared. Signed ('L. Conrad Hartley') presentation inscription dated 31 May 1915. No copy of the offprint of this short story on COPAC.

8.5 x 11 cms. Grubby and lightly spotted. Reads 'My dear Mr Sonnenschein | Kindly send draft as I can collect here - | Merrily Yours | Marshall P. Wilder'. Presumably refers to the English printing of his 'The people I've smiled with: recollections of a merry little life' (1889).

8vo: 11 pp. Unbound and stapled. In original beige printed wraps. Grubby and dogeared, with rusted staples. Signed (L. Conrad Hartley') presentation, dated 31 May 1915. No copy of the offprint off this short story on COPAC.

[Vatican Librarian; Archivist of the Vatican Secret Archive; subject of Shane Leslie's biography;Three pages, octavo. Good, on lightly aged and spotted paper, with crease to second leaf of bifolium. Regarding Rev. J. R. McKee's translation of Arnold Oskar Meyer's 'England and the Catholic Church under Queen Elizabeth'. He has received McKee's letter. 'When I promised this to the Professor more than two years ago I did not contemplate having to leave England altogether & still less had I any dream of the war, which has interrupted all relations with German friends'.

Octavo: 39 pp. Stitched. In original orange wraps, with grey printed paper boards. On spotted, aged paper, with insect holes to a couple of leaves. Wraps stained and worn. First English printing of an essay noted for its coupling with Henry James's piece of the same name (not present here) in an American edition of 1885.

Octavo: [vi] + 24 pp. Stapled and unbound. Detached from original blue and pink printed wraps (advertising W. S. Lincoln & Son, coin and medal dealers of New Oxford Street, London). Several illustrations and tables. Good, though lightly aged, and with some wear and creasing to the wraps, which are blue on the outside and pink internally. Several other items by Ratcliff are recorded, but this item is rare, with no copy listed on COPAC.

Octavo: 8 pp. Unbound, stapled pamphlet of six leaves. Dogeared, with rusted staples and with horizontal band of discoloration and two vertical closed tears (2 cm and 1 cm) at head.

General (c.1656-1730) and Governor of Gibraltar, married to Catherine Sedley, mistress of James II (see item# ). One leaf, dimensions roughly seven inches by ten and a half. Printed text with manuscript additions on recto; docketed on verso. Good, but grubby, and with slight repair to head. Receipt 'of the Honourable [Lord ffitzharding]' (corrected from 'James Vernon Esq'); One of the Four Tellers of the Receipt of Her Majesty's Exchequer', of eighty pounds for twenty-four months interest on £500 lent by Portmore and 'My Ld Kent' on 14 August 1704. Signed 'Portmore'.

Judge (1669-1728), and Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales on the accession of George I. Grandfather of the poet William Cowper, and brother of William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper (1665-1723), Lord Chancellor of England. One of the defendants, in 1699, in the celebrated trial for the murder of Sarah Stout. Dimensions of paper roughly six and a half inches by six inches. On discoloured, spotted paper, with slight wear and loss to one corner (not affecting text). Right edge slightly trimmed, with partial loss to one word'.

(1699-1747). One leaf, dimensions roughly eight inches by ten. Printed text with manuscript additions on recto; docketed on verso 'Right Hon Pattee Byng afterwards Earl of Torrington Treasurer of the Navy 1729- Brother of the unfortunate Admiral John Byng'. Good, but grubby, and with slight loss at head and in centre (affecting five words of text). 'Received then of [Lord Parker one of the Four Tellers of his Majesty's Exchequer] the Sum of [One hundred Twenty one thousand four hundred and sixteen pounds seven shillings and Eleven pence] in further Part of an Order, Dated the [10th.

English philosopher (1820-71). 24 pages, 12mo. Very good, neatly bound in brown cloth binding. Bound in are the original grey printed wraps, affected with foxing, and with very slight damage from glue to front wrap. The rear wrap carries an advertisement of 'BOOKS LATELY PUBLISHED | BY J. VINCENT OXFORD.', including 'NINEVEH: the Best Newdigate for Years; therefore not recited in the Theatre, Oxford, July 3, 1851. 12mo. 1s.' A brilliant satire on academic reformers and German philosphers. Copac only lists copies of the third, fourth and fifth editions.

12mo: 24 pp. Leaf dimensions: 15.5 x 9.5 cms. Unbound. Good, on aged paper with fraying to extremities and a little light staining to title. Decorative title-page with vignette. On verso of title: list of twenty-three 'Penny Histories' ('Crown 12mo. Three or upwards sent post free to any address, on receipt of stamps to the amount') and nineteen 'Penny Song Books'. Heavily worn type and loss to text at foot of three pages due to faulty imposition. According to BBTI Robert Benson Bowman was active in Newcastle from before 1826 to after 1859.