MANUSCRIPT

Ayres is the subject of a monograph by Domenico Mariani. He studied at Ratcliffe College, Charnwood, Leicestershire, where he was ordained. 2pp, 12mo. Twenty-eight lines of text. In fair condition, on thin, aged and worn paper. Addressed to ‘Revd. H. W. Lewthwaite / London’ and signed ‘Yours in Xt. / very affect.ly / + Francis Cardozo Ayres / Bishop of Pernambuco’. Begins: ‘Very Dear Fr.

See Smith’s entry in the Oxford DNB, and Michael Kennedy's assessment of Boult, in his entry in the same work: 'In the music he admired most, Boult was often a great conductor; in the rest, an extremely conscientious one.' The two items are unrelated. LETTER: 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once for postage and with corners snipped diagonally to make an octagonal shape. Salutation and valediction are in Boult’s autograph: ‘Dear Mrs Brown’ and ‘Yours very sincerely / Adrian C. Boult’. PROGRAMME: 12pp, 8vo. Stapled.

See his long and sympathetic entry by David Gilmour in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Curzon acquired the Priory at Reigate after his marriage in 1895, and the letter probably dates from around March to July 1922, when, according to the Oxford DNB, ‘he was laid low by a combination of phlebitis, thrombosis, and lymphangitis which kept him out of action for five months’. 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Written in pencil. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with slight spotting at foot of first page. One central fold for postage.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, lightly aged and folded once for postage. 1p, 12mo. Reads: ‘Dear Sir / I was not aware that the one sub[scriptio]n. had been p[ai]d. & not the other. By all means keep my paym[en]t. in discharge of my sub[script]n. for 1887 / Yrs Ty / Herschell’.

See her entry and the recipient's in the Oxford DNB. The two items are in fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter is lightly creased and the card has a central vertical fold. ONE: ALS. 1p, 12mp. Signed ‘Marjory Kennedy-Fraser’. Once the recipient has ‘got what you want out of the Vol III herewith’, she asks her to ‘kindly return it to Mrs. Matthay at 96, Wimpole St’. TWO: ACS.

See his entry and hers in the Oxford DNB. The two items are in good condition, lightly aged, and each folded once for postage. Neatly and firmly written. Both addressed to ‘Dear Miss Scott’ and signed ‘Keith Falkner’. ONE: 2pp, 12mo. Eleven lines. He will be ‘pleased to sing in the “Peasant Cantata” at the Union “At Home” on June 28th’ and asks to know ‘which version you will be doing as soon as you decide?’ He ends with thanks for her ‘kind sympathy - I do appreciate it very much’. TWO: 2pp, 8vo. Twenty-three lines of text.

See his entry and hers in the Oxford DNB. 2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded once for postage. Signed ‘Lionel Tetris.’ Begins ‘Dear Miss Scott / It was so kind of you to give us such a nice tea-party yesterday[.] We thoroughly enjoyed it and thank you very much indeed. / We hope you will come & see us soon[.] Won’t you come to Lunch one day?’

Venn features in the Oxford DNB article on his father Henry Venn (1725-1797). In fair condition, on lightly-aged paper. Two rectangles cut from a letter, laid down on one side of a 14 x 5.5 cm piece of thicker paper. The first rectangle, 12.5 x 2.5 cm, carries the conclusion of the letter: ‘[...]ain are truly I am my dear / your ever faithful & affect Friend / J Venn’. At the foot of the slip, in pencil in a Victorian hand: ‘X (Son of “Complete duty of Man”). Beneath this slip is the second one, 9 x 1.5 cm, which gives the date: ‘Clapham 10 Sepr. 1810’.

The history of the business is convoluted. See the entries in the Oxford DNB of the founder of the firm John Newbery (c.1713-1767) of St Paul’s Churchyard, his son Francis Newbery (1743-1818), and Elizabeth Newbery, née Bryant (c.1746-1821, widow of Francis Newbery (c.1740-1780), cousin of the aforementioned Francis, who, according to Oxford DNB, ‘had studied chemistry and medicine but on the death of his father in 1767 he was urged by Samuel Johnson and Robert James to continue the business of publishing and selling patent medicines which he had inherited as the only surviving son. ...

See his obituary in the Guardian, 5 April 2006. On irregularly-shaped trapezoid of ruled paper, roughly 8 cm wide at top, with one vertical side also 8cm, and the other 4cm, giving it a guillotine shape. Lightly aged and ruckled. Blank on the reverse. Reads: ‘Best / always / Gene Pitney’.

Black and white print of an 11.5 x 15 cm head and shoulders portrait of a smiling Carter on 12.5 x 21 cm piece of shiny paper. In good condition. Beneath the portrait, in red ink, Carter writes: ‘for Michael Robuck / Elliott Carter, March 28, ’72.’ On the reverse, in another hand, is the note ‘4. 3. 72 / Elliott Carter Composer’. See Image.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, foolscap 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged and creased. Folded twice for postage. The address is printed on a small golden label affixed at the top left corner. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Catry’ and signed ‘With all best wishes - and thank you for writing! / Sincerely, / Eric Crozier.’ He asks him to forgive a typed letter, as he is ‘convalescing from a heart-attack, and still not very good at hand-writing.

See her entry in Encyclopedia Britannica. 1p, 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with some grubbiness around the top-left corner. The text of the letter and the stylish and assured signature are unaffected. Reads: ‘Dear Neil Hurst, / Thank you very much for your letter. I’m delighted to know that you have enjoyed my work, and it was kind of you to write. / I have pleasure in sending you a signed photograph, with my best wishes. / Yours sincerely, / Judi Dench’. Dench terminates the signature with a diagonal dash through a widely-spaced colon.

Grafe’s putative intelligence work during the war is referenced in Helen Fry’s ‘The Walls Have Ears | The Greatest Intelligence Operation of World War II’ (2019). He worked as translator and editor from as early as 1950 (for Phaidon) and 1986 (for Thames and Hudson). Nigel Spivey, in his ‘Phaidon 1923-98’ (1999), describes how, during the ‘Harvey Miller period’ at the firm, ‘Steady editorial continuity within the workforce at Cromwell Place was provided by an ex-Viennese scholar called Innocenz Grafe (who for a perhaps obvious reason preferred to be known as simply ‘Dr G.’ ’.

See the article ‘Glory days of the man with the golden trumpet’ in the Lancashire Post, 17 March 2017. On one side of 12 x 8.5 cm leaf of cream paper with rounded outer edges, torn from an autograph album. In good condition, with blank reverse. Large sprawling signature covering the whole page. Reads ‘Sincerely / Eddie Calvert’. See Image.

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged and creased. Ten lines in a close, controlled hand. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Whitworth’ and signed ‘Christopher Hampton’. He writes to confirm that he will be free on the date he suggested he ‘might be able to come down to meet you’. He also gives an alternative date. ‘At the moment I’m working on a new translation of “Uncle Vanya”, which was to be finished by the end of November.

See her entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘My dear Mrs Cowan’ and signed ‘Burdett Coutts -’. Thirty lines of text. The ‘blind system’ appears to have been a form of education for the blind, possibly involving a precursor of braille. (An advertisement by ‘A Lady, who has the care of a Blind Child’ in the Medical Times, 25 March 1876, offers ‘First-class education given under the blind system.’).

The anonymous author of this material is evidently a well-educated individual, and well-versed in the sciences. He has taken great care over the material, and it can be presumed that his intention was either to try for publication, or use it while lecturing.

C. A. Russell’s 2003 biography of Edward Frankland contains a thumbnail biography of Phipson, who ‘obtained a doctorate at Brussels in 1855, and after editing Cosmos in Paris, directed an analytical laboratory at Putney (at 4, The Cedars, almost on the site of Frankland’s earlier exploits at the now demolished College of Engineering). He became a Fellow of the Chemical Society in 1862 and was a prolific author of short papers as well as an accomplished amateur violinist’. See the short biographical notice in C. J. Bouverie, ‘The scientific and literary works of Dr. T. L.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The six items - written in the semi-retirement that followed Escott's breakdown in 1885 (Joseph Chamberlain and Lord Randolph Churchill took up a subscription for him) - are in good condition, on lightly aged paper. A total of 12pp, 12mo. Closely written in a well-nigh illegible hand. All six letters are addressed to ‘My dear Sir’ and signed ‘T H S Escott’. Considering the execrable nature of the handwriting, it is ironic that the main topic would appear to be the supplying by Escott of autographs for the recipient’s collection.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. Under Gladstone Burt served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, 1892-1895. From the papers of Arthur George Liddon Rogers (1864-1944), son of the editor of the economist Thorold Rogers, and written while Rogers was Secretary of the Liberal Publication Department (a sort of public relations department), a position to which he was appointed in November 1891. 2pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Signed 'Thos Burt'. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once for postage.

1p, 4to. On discoloured and somewhat grubby paper, folded twice for postage. Addressed to ‘S. Hodgson Esq.’ and signed ‘H M. Hake’. Hodgson has sent Hake ‘a manuscript fragment’, which does not seem to indicate either of ‘the portraits in the Gallery’. He has ‘looked up the record of portraits offered in the past but there is no mention of Mrs. Cruikshank or her executors.’ He asks a related question before turning to the subject of the physician Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson (1828-1896), who was in Hake’s opinion ‘more of a professional worthy than a national one’.

After serving in the Great War, Burn (son of Sir Joseph Burn) studied at the Slade between 1918 and 1922, winning six prizes. After teaching in London at the Royal College, and in Boston, he offered his services to the war effort. After the war he went back to the Royal College, as a senior tutor. The four ot the items here are in fair condition, lightly worn and discoloured. Each is folded once for postage. Although only one is dated, the others appear to date from around the same time. ONE (‘Monday’): 1p, 4to. Unsigned.

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In good condition, on lightly aged paper with slight nicks to one edge. Folded four times. A good, firm signature, as ‘Librarian of the Academy’, to a printed form completed in another hand, headed with a reproduction of the Academy’s seal. Reads (manuscript text in square brackets): ‘DUBLIN, [November 10] 19[09] / SIR [Madam] / I AM DIRECTED BY THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY TO THANK HYOU FOR THE UNDERMENTIONED DONATION, AND TO ASSURE YOU THAT THE ACADEMY APPRECIATES THIS MARK OF CONSIDERATION.

See Thomson’s entry in O’Byrne’s ‘Naval Biographical Dictionary’ (1849). He had entered the navy in 1811, ‘on board the Impérieuse 38, Capt. Hon. Henry Duncan’, and would retire with the rank of Lieutenant, after a reasonably eventful career, in 1829. In 1849 he was said by O’Byrne to be ‘a Captain in the Ayrshire Militia’. On 30 September 1864 the London Gazette listed him among the ‘Lieutenants on Reserved List, to be Retired Commanders’.

Written during the 1984-5 Old Vic production of Arthur Schnitzler’s ‘The Lonely Road’, in which Eggar starred opposite Anthony Hopkin, with a young Colin Firth. 2pp, 12mo. Good bold signature: ‘Sincerely / Samantha Eggar’. Addressed to 'Mr Sephton'. In good condition, lightly aged, folded for postage. She thanks him for his ‘inquiry as to whether I would be able to talk to you about “Whos Who of Hollywood Britons’, and gives the only date that is convenient. ‘The show comes down at 5.15 approx, maybe a call to the theatre to check would be wise’. From the papers of Kenneth Sephton.

Dillon's entry in the Oxford DNB states that on 6 March 1889 he ‘sailed for Australia to solicit contributions; he also toured New Zealand, and returned to Ireland via the United States in late April 1890. His mission raised about £33,000’. 3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. Addressed to ‘My dear Miss Meredith’ and signed ‘Yours very Sincerely / John Dillon’. In fair condition, lightly aged, with very light transfer of ink from another letter (from blotting pad?) onto third leaf, including signature. Folded for postage.

Leighton’s entry in the Oxford DNB explains that ‘In 1954 she began a long run (nearly four years in London and New York) as Anne Shankland and Sybil Railton-Bell in the double bill of Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables, co-starring with Eric Portman and winning a Tony award as best actress.’ 2pp, 4to. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr Sephton’, with good bold signature, ‘Margaret Leighton.’ In good condition, lightly aged, folded for postage.

See Hutton's entry in the Oxford DNB, together with that of the recipient Sir Lovelace Tomlinson Stamer (1829-1908), Anglican Bishop of Shrewsbury. 1p, 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged paper, with slight smudging on the first page. With two folds for postage. Addressed to ‘The Revd Sir Lovelace T Stamer Bart’ and signed ‘R H Hutton’. Twenty-five lines of text in a hand that must surely have proved as much of a challenge to Hutton’s compositors as to present-day readers.

According to Delane’s entry in the Oxford DNB, he settled ‘from about 1847 at 16 Serjeants' Inn, Temple’. The addressee appears to be ‘W. Forsyth Esq’, and is named in the letter as a brother of the Conservative politician William Forsyth (1812-1899), who took silk in 1857, and hence also of the diplomat Sir Thomas Douglas Forsyth (1827-1886), both of whom have ODNB entries. 2pp, 12mo, with mourning border. In good condition, lightly aged, and folded twice for postage, in the neat remains of a windowpane mount.