LONDON

1p., folio. In fair condition, aged and worn, with two punch holes at head. The letter begins by drawing the recipient's attention to an 'enclosed statement relating to Emanuel Hospital. | The principals involved are of great public interest and apply to every educational endowment throughout the kingdom | They involve: - | The confiscation of property | The arbitrary removal of Governors against whom no complaint is alleged. | Entire disregard of the charter of foundation | The absolute prohibition of the gratuitous education of the poor except as the result of competitive examination'.

1p., 8vo. Addressed on reverse to 'Mr Keene | Furnivals Inn'. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight damage caused by black powder seal. The letter reads: 'Sir | On consulting with Mr Greening, I find it will be most adviseable <?> Mr Greening go to the Fleet - I wish therefore you could send over Mr Watson this Afternoon, when I will pay him the Money requisite for the Habeas <?>. | Sir | Your hble Servt | Robt Huish'.

It is Sir Basil Blackwell, in his DNB entry on Wilson, who described him as 'the most famous English [sic] bookseller of his time'. The freshness and enthusiasm conveyed by this small volume supports Blackwell's view that Wilson viewed 'bookselling not so much as a matter of retail trade as a service in which bookseller and customer met and shared the experience of contact with the precious manifestations of the spirit of man', as well as casting light on the methods and practices which made Wilson so successful.

For more about Joseph Wilson, ARIBA, FRIAS, see his entry in the Dictionary of Scottish Architects. From the familiar tone of his letters (Items Seven, Ten and Eleven below), there is every indication that he was closely related to his client, J. G. Wilson, proprietor of the prestigious firm of J. & E. Bumpus Ltd, and a man described by Sir Basil Blackwell (in his DNB entry on Wilson) as 'the most famous English [sic] bookseller of his time'. Eleven items, in good condition, lightly aged and worn.

From the papers of The Sun's receiver, Charles Fox of 11 Old Jewry, London. The ten items in good condition, on lightly-aged paper. According to Bottomley's entry in the Oxford DNB, ' In 1902 he bought a moribund evening newspaper, The Sun.

On 8.5 x 9.5 cm piece of paper. In good condition, with light signs of age. Reads: '"Littera scripta manet" | Valentine Chirol'.

On the 8 x 13cm cover of the envelope. In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper, with loss at head and to top right-hand corner from removal from an album, traces of which adhere to the reverse. Playfair's signature ('Lyon Playfair') in the bottom left-hand corner is unnaffected, and the address, also in his hand, reads: 'Messrs George Routledge & Son | Broadway | Ludgate Hill | E.C.' The orange circular franking postmark is incomplete, and reads: 'LON | OFF | PAID | B | 9 FE 86'.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. Reads: 'My dear Young | Jack Calthorpe-Clayton is in the country: and I don't know when he will be home. He will be much grieved, I know, not to be here to welcome you back to our dingy old capital, when he knows of your apparition here | Yours very truly | J Palgrave Simpson'. The identity of 'Jack Calthorpe-Clayton' is uncertain. The name is certainly spelt thus, but may be a mistake for 'Colthorpe-Clayton'.

Packet of six items, held together with a pin. Totalling 8pp., folio; 3pp., 8vo. In good overall condition, on aged and worn paper. ONE: Autograph Letter Signed from 'Wm: R: Myers | Secy' to Messrs Thomson Hankey & Co, London. Executive Committee Office; 26 December 1855. 2pp., folio. Giving details of five documents which he is forwarding, 'on the Chairs received from Messrs. Druce & Co'. He writes that he is 'directed to communicate through you, that the Chairs are not accepted and will not be paid for, but will be kept on the account and risk of Messrs.

8pp., 8vo. Unbound pamphlet. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Seventy numbered paragraphs, divided into two main parts, 'A Summary of the National Health Service Act' (itself divided into five parts: Central Administration; Hospital and Specialist Services; Health Services provided by Local Health Authorities; General Medical and Dental Services, Pharmaceutical Services and Supplementary Ophthalmic Services; Mental Health Services) and 'The Profession and the Act'. Scarce: no copy traced either on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

Printed on one side of a piece of 15cm square card. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Four numbered instructions, preceded by: 'There would be a great need for extra bed coverings for children should evacuation ever take place. Suitable covers can be made by sewing together squares knitted up from scraps of wool. They will always be useful even if, as we all hope, they are not needed for their original purpose.' This initiative can be dated from a reference in 'Home & Country' magazine, 1939. Scarce: no copy traced in the Imperial War Museum or elsewhere.

The three items are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, pinned together. ONE: Duplicated typescript titled 'Appointment of Women Officers as voluntary Members of the Regular Army Reserve of Officers'. 3pp., two of them foolscap 8vo, the other landscape 12mo. Divided into 18 sections under the headings: General; Purpose of the Reserve and Liability for Service; Eligibility for Appointment; Age Limits; Rank on Appointment; Training; Uniform; Change of Address and Change of Name by Marriage; Permanent Residence Abroad; Removal on Account of Age from the RARO; How to Join.

1p., 4to. Bifolium. On aged paper worn at extremities. Addressed on reverse (which also carries docketing and calculations) to 'Messrs. Talver Milburn & Prestwich | 24 High St. Boro' | London'. The letter begins: 'Gentn. | The enclosed bill value £186. 13. 4 - you will place to my Fathers acct. & acknowledge Pr. return to this place. In the statement made of the balance of his acct. I presume you omitted to give him credit for the Stock sold & the Dividend upon it'. In the second paragraph he gives details of '2 bills' he has drawn on the firm.

2pp., 4to. In fair condition, on aged paper. An unpublished jeux d'esprit on the well-known poem by Isaac Watts (also parodied by Lewis Carroll), the poem consists of twenty-four lines arranged in six four-line stanzas, followed by: 'written in the shortest minute of the longest day by | Thomas Haynes Bayly | June 22nd. 1835.' The first two stanzas read: 'As "doth the little busy Bee | "Improve each shining hour, | "And gather honey all the day | "From every opening flower." | So doth the busy T. H. B.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged paper, but with loss at foot and traces of mount on reverse. The letter is addressed to 'Mrs Ashurst Morris | Victoria Hotel | ' (the last word damaged at the foot of the page). It reads: 'Dear Madam, | Thanks for your letter. Pardon my delay in answering, but our plans have been a little uncertain. We shall not be staying in London after the date mentioned, otherwise, we should have been very glad to continue our present sojourn at your comfortable flat.

2pp., small 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper. Addressed on reverse of second leaf to 'Mr. Smith | Mechanic Arms | Henry Street | oppe Ancott Street | Manchester'. With contemporary note, in another hand, on separate piece of paper: '312. | Journal of Sergt. Major Dove, of six Years Service of the 7th Royal Fusiliers, in the Peninsula'.

Printed Hankey & Co. cheque for £156 17s 10d., on account of the 'Exors Sir Wm. Alexander', signed by 'Thomas Hankey Jnr. | Exor'. In fair condition, on aged paper. On the reverse: 'Travelling Expenses of | Mr. J. A Hankey | Coll. Hankey | J Hankey J. | R. Alexander | A. Js. Alexander | } and 3 Servants | from London to Edinburgh & back to attend the funeral Expenses of Sir W. Alexander. | £156. 17. 10. | J H Jnr'.

Full title: 'Comparative Statement of the Imports into Bristol from the West Indies of Sugar, Rum & Coffee, together with Sugar from the East Indies and Mauritius from the 1st. January to the 30th. Septr in the Years 1839 & 1840 shewing the Stocks remaining under Bond at the latter date.' 3pp., 4to. Bifolium. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Addressed (with two postmarks, one of them from Bristol) on reverse of second leaf: 'P.P. | Messrs. Hankey Wilson & Co | London', and docketed by the recipients: '496 | Ariel & Beloe | 30 Sept 1840 | recd 2 Oct [1840] | no answer'.

Each of the six issues in its original card wraps, the first four with cover design by Wyndham Lewis. Internally good, on lightly aged paper, in aged and worn wraps. A total of 176pp., 8vo. No.10 (May 1938), pp.29-54. No.11 ('Long poems by George Barker and Kenneth Allott', July 1938), pp.55-78. No.12-13 ('an attempt to get inside the covers of a small magazine a number of the best, and most representative, living poets born in America', October 1938), pp.79-118. No.14 (December 1938), pp.119-142. No.17 (April/May 1939), pp.1-26. No.18 ('A Special Number', June/July 1939), pp.27-62.

2pp., folio. On single leaf, with the reverse paginated 2. In double column. The article begins: 'No sign of the times appears to us fraught with more emphatic warning than the proposal of Dr. Pusey, that the Universities should abandon subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, as the practical qualifications for orthodox Church of England Protestant teaching.' A footnote cites a work by Macbride.

1p., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter reads: 'I beg to re-enclose for the excerpt from your publication "Men & Women of the Time," of my biography which I have revised, making a very few alterations, & adding a few lines which I write on the other sheet of this note: [not present] my permanent address now is the above'. The note relates to the fifteenth edition of the work, published by G. Routledge & Sons in 1899.

7 + [1]pp., 12mo. Stitched and unbound. In good condition, on lightly aged paper. Signed in the top right-hand corner of the first page, above the drop-head title, 'Charles Hesketh'. The final page carries a list of seven works 'By the same Author.', the latest dating from 1851. Excessively scarce: no copies on COPAC or OCLC WorldCat.

3pp., 8vo. Bifolium. On aged card, with wear to extremities. The text, attributed to Wallis by the British Library catalogue, is on the verso of the first leaf; and facing this, behind a tissue guard, is the print. Wallis discusses the 'feeble' nature of the 'various engaged portraits of Shelley', and explains Peacock's reservations in endorsing Lasinio's engraving of Leisman's painting. Uncommon: five copies on COPAC, the British Library entry attributing the publication to Henry Wallis.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with remains of stub adhering to margin on reverse of leaf. The letter begins: 'Dear Sir | I got as far as Charing Cross last night on my way to you - when horrified by the lateness of the Hour, I did not venture to put in an Appearance & turned Homeward. -' He concludes by inviting him to a dinner at the East India Club, 14 St James's Square.

1p., 12mo. In fair condition, on aged and creased paper. Reads: 'Dear Sir, and His Honor, the Lord Mayor of London. | Your appeal has this hour met my eye. Be so good as to add the enclosed $100, to your collection for "the China Famine Relief Fund." Messrs. Brown, Shipley, & Co, are in the habit of cashing my check on Bank of New York; it it is desired.' With oval stamp of the City bankers Brown Shipley & Co., and initaled note of the converted sum, '£20 7s 3d'.

Unattributed, but in Wheatley's hand. The 'List of Plays seen by Pepys from 1660 to 1669' is 5pp., foolscap 8vo, on loose leaves of unwatermarked ruled paper. In fair condition, aged and worn. It is neatly written out in ink, with occasional pencil emendations, giving dates, theatres and titles. A few comments on the theatres are included, for example on 'Davenant's New Theatre in Lincolns Inn Fields'.

Dimensions of etching 13 x 9 cm. Dimensions of plate 14.5 x 10.5 cm. Dimensions of page 32 x 25.5 cm. The image itself in excellent condition, the borders aged, with wear and closed tears to extremities.

On 4.5 x 9.5 cm rectangle of paper, cut from letter. In fair condition, lightly aged, and laid down on part of leaf from album. Reads: 'Yours vy trly | Henry Thompson'.

24pp., 8vo, paginated 161-184. In fair condition, on lightly aged and worn paper. Roberts contributes 'The Cult of Sherlock'; Frank Swinnerton, 'Holmes - World Figure'; Darwin, 'The Great Holmes Joke'; Howlett and Pointer, 'Holmes on Stage and Screen'; Paget, 'He made Holmes real' ('In this article Winifred Paget writes of her father, Sidney Paget, whose drawings, says Frank Swinnerton on another page, made Holmes "the most universally familiar imaginary figure in two hemispheres'.

2pp., 12mo. In good condition, on lightly aged paper, in a windowpane mount. It gives him 'much pain' to refuse the recipient's 'kind and friendly invitation': 'My Sundays for 12 Months are engaged. I fear some kind friends forget I am a settled Pastor & not at liberty to accept one twentieth of the Invitations I get. I have only a few Sundays which I feel I can consistently spend away from home - & these are generally engaged several months in advance'.