MANUSCRIPT

[The man who set the French Revolution in motion.] Countersignature of Charles-Alexandre de Calonne to quittance on parchment of Charles-Pierre Lavalette, regarding the ‘feu Fauveau de Frenilly Receveur général des Domains des bois de Poitier’.

Author: 
Charles-Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802), French statesman whose efforts at financial reform precipitated the crisis that led to the French Revolution [Charles-Pierre Lavalete]
Publication details: 
20 June 1784. Paris.
£100.00

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, it was de Calonne’s efforts at reform, which precipitated the crisis which let to the French Revolution. The present item is on a 31 x 22 cm piece of parchment. In good condition, lightly aged, with a couple of closed tears.

[Frederic Vanson, Essex poet and journalist; his wife the painter Olive Bentley.] Eight Autograph Letters Signed and one Typed from Vanson to playwright Christopher Fry, collection of poetry typescripts, and ALS to Fry from Bentley.

Author: 
Frederic Vanson (1919-1993), Essex poet and and journalist; his wife the painter Olive Bentley [Christopher Fry (1907-2005), playwright]
Publication details: 
Correspondence dating from between 29 December 1983 and 12 January 1993. Letters of 1983 and 1984 from 24 Morley Grove, Harlow (Essex); the rest from 178 Elm Tree Avenue, Walton on the Naze (Essex).
£400.00

See David Gaskin’s obituary of Vanson, Independent, 27 July 1993, and Fry’s entry in the Oxford DNB. The material is in good condition, lightly aged, with one leaf of poetry typescript creased. Vanson’s eight Autograph Letters Signed date from between 29 December 1983 and 12 January 1993. total 11pp, 8vo, and 2pp, 12mo. One of the letters is lacking all but the last (signed) page; the others are complete. Vanson’s Typed Letter Signed is 1p, 8vo. It is undated, but dated by Fry to 14 August (no year, but from the context written in 1992). The nine letters are all signed ‘Frederic’.

[Tobacco in Orléanist France.] Poster-size manuscript ‘Tableau des communes qui ont cessé d’être autorisées à planter du tabac’, signed by ‘Le Directeur du Dépt du Pas-de-Calais’.

Author: 
[Tobacco in Orléanist France.] Le Directeur du Déptartement du Pas-de-Calais, 1834
Publication details: 
Dated ‘Arras, le 21 Juillet 1834’. [Pas-de-Calais, France.]
£180.00

On one side of a 42 x 52 cm piece of laid paper. Folded three times. In very good condition, lightly aged. A striking item in its austere way: very neatly written out, and perhaps suitable for framing. At head: ‘No. 2. Tableau des communes qui ont cessé d’être autorisées à planter du tabac.’ At foot: ‘Toutes les communes des arrondissements de Bethune et de St. Omer qui ont cessé d’être autorisées à planter, avaient volontairement renoncé à la culture. | Arras, le 21 Juillet 1834 | Le Directeur du Dépt du Pas-de-Calais, | [signature (‘Borrage?’, ‘Barrois?’)].

[Charles Williams, with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien one of the ‘Inklings’.] Typescript of Ruth Spalding’s BBC radio programme ‘Portrait of Charles Williams’, produced by Terence Tiller and featuring T. S. Eliot, Christopher Fry and others.

Author: 
Charles Williams [Charles Walter Stansby Williams] (1886-1945), poet and author, member with C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien of Oxford group ‘The Inklings’ [Ruth Spalding (1913-2009), author on BBC]
Publication details: 
Later (1980s) transcription of BBC radio feature on 'Third Programme 13.9.61 [13 September 1961]'.
£180.00

Williams, who has an entry in the Oxford DNB, became a close friend of Spalding and her sister Anne after lodging with their parents during the Second World War. The present item is a transcription, made and printed out around the 1980s, of the 1961 radio programme, on one side each of 34 numbered pieces of A4 paper, loosely gathered by a black plastic spine.

[Provincial Georgian Art Connoisseurs.] Two Autograph Memoranda, both signed by ‘W. Hayward’, recording an exchange of paintings (by Correggio, Hobbima, Du Jardin, et al) with ‘Dr. Maddy’ [Edwin Maddy, LLD, Mayor of Gloucester].

Author: 
[Provincial Georgian Art Connoisseurs: ‘Dr Maddy’, i.e. Edwin Maddy, LLD, Mayor of Gloucester, and W. Hayward]
Publication details: 
Both dated 'Gloster 20th. Octr. 1841'. [Gloucester.]
£56.00

Interesting artefacts of provincial Georgian connoisseurship and picture dealers. If genuine (unlikely, given the period) the paintings would be of considerable interest. Given the exchange of cash, ‘W. Hayward’ could well be a visiting picture dealer. Both memoranda in good condition, lightly aged. ONE: 1p, 8vo. Folded four times. Reads: ‘Gloster 20th. Octr. 1841 | Exchanged with Dr. Maddy the following pictures viz / Waterfall &c. - Berghem / Landscape - Hobbema / for / Landscape - K. Du Jardin / Perseus & Andromeda - S. Rosa / and / Cash - £100 / W. Hayward’. TWO: 1p, landscape 12mo.

[City of London Piscatorial Society.] Autograph Letter Signed from the Honorary Secretary of the CLPS, Walter Westley, with printed booklet of ‘C.L.P.S. / Programme 1935-36’ and application form.

Author: 
[Fishing.] City of London Piscatorial Society (CLPS), founded in 1902 and one of the oldest angling clubs in England; Walter Westley, Honorary Secretary
Publication details: 
Westley’s letter dated 17 June 1935; on his letterhead, ‘City of London Piscatorial Society. / Headquarters: “Crown & Cushion,” 73, London Wall, E.C.2.’ Printed programme for 1935-36; application form (same address as letterhead) from 1930s.
£150.00

A nice slice of London ephemera. The three items are in good condition, lightly aged. They were clearly all sent together. ONE: ALS from Westley (‘W. Westley | Hon. Sec.’) to unnamed recipient. 2pp, 12mo. In answer to an application he is sending ‘one New Programme showing Waters &c’, pointing out that not all are ‘Trout Waters’, and that ‘about 30% of the Members only take part in competitions’. He explains that they have had good (he mistakenly writes ‘few’) membership over the previous two years, ‘but at the present time there are a few members’. TWO: Printed ‘C.L.P.S.

[Motorcycle Speedway.] Publicity photos, each signed by the subject, of Norman Parker, captain of the Wimbledon Dons, and his rider George ‘Huck’ Fynn.

Author: 
[Motorcycle Speedway] Norman Parker (1908-1999), captain of the Wimbledon Dons; his rider George ‘Huck’ Fynn (b.1922), Australian speedway rider
Motor bikes
Publication details: 
Between 1945 and 1953, when Parker was with the Wimbledon Dons. Each photograph stamped on reverse ‘BCM/SPORTS PHOTOS, / LONDON, W.C.1.’
£56.00
Motor bikes

Parker was with the Wimbledon Dons between 1945 and 1953, during which time he won three national trophies (1950, 1951 and 1953). He also rode in several World Finals. Fynn came over to Britain from Australia, and Speedway Star, 7 May 2022, contains a biographical feature, with photograph, on the occasion of his hundredth birthday. A pair of black-and-white prints, each on 14 x 9 cm glossy paper. Each with stamp of ‘BCM/SPORTS PHOTOS’ on reverse, stating ‘SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHS 6d each’.

[Pantomime Dame.] Autograph Letter Signed from actor-manager Alwyn D. Fox, announcing that he is ‘free for Dame for coming season pants’, and giving his credentials for playing the part.

Author: 
[Pantomime Dame.] Alwyn D. Fox, actor-manager of Horsham Repertory Company, the man who discovered Michael Caine
Publication details: 
19 April 1951. On the green letterhead (‘The Mark of a Good Production’) of ‘ALWYN D. FOX | PRODUCTION AND MANAGEMENT’, 38 Sutherland Street, London SW1.
£80.00

See Michael Caine’s affectionate account of Fox in ‘The Elephant to Hollywood’ (2010), from which the anecdote at the end of this entry is taken. 1p, 4to. Addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Hindin’, signed ‘Alwyn Fox’ and headed ‘Pantomime - “Dame”.’ While the twenty lines of text are clear and complete, the item is not in the best of condition, on aged and creased on discoloured paper with closed tears to edges. The letter begins: ‘I am at present free for Dame for coming season pants. and would be glad to negotiate with you.

[Christopher Fry: the schoolboy diaries of his elder brother Charles Leslie Harris.] Four years of diaries, 1916-1919, covering his time at Bedford School.

Author: 
[Christopher Fry [born Arthur Hammond Harris] (1907-2005), playwright] his brother Charles Leslie Harris (b.1902) [Bedford School]
Publication details: 
1916 to 1919, each a ‘Charles Letts School-Boy’s Diary’. At front of diaries for 1916 and 1917 he writes: ‘C L. Harris / 120 Gladstone St / Bedford’.
£450.00

See Fry’s entry by Michael Billington in the Dictonary of National Biography. His brother survives as a rather shadowy figure: he was certainly alive in 1978, when Fry referred to him in the account of his family background ‘Can You Find Me / A Family History’ (OUP). In that volume Fry describes his ‘brother Leslie’ as a baby ‘growing sturdily’, noting that ‘though he was later called by his first name Charles, he was Leslie for many years to come’.

[Olga Novikoff, White Russian writer and journalist in Britain.] Autograph Signature and valediction from letter.

Author: 
Olga Novikoff [Olga Alekseevna Novikoff] (c.1842-1925), White Russian writer and journalist in Britain, author of ‘The M.P. for Russia’
Novikoff
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£30.00
Novikoff

On 11 x 6 cm piece of paper cut from letter. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘Yours faithfully / Olga Novikoff.’

[Oliver Zangwill, ‘the Father of British neuropsychology’.] Autograph Note Signed (‘Oliver.’) to ‘Bob’, describing steps he has taken and hoping that 'something is done'.

Author: 
Oliver Zangwill [Oliver Louis Zangwill] (1913-1987), ‘the Father of British neuropsychology’, Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge
Oliver
Publication details: 
10 February 1969; on letterhead of ‘Professor O. L. Zangwill, The Psychological Laboratory, Downing Street, Cambridge.’
£50.00
Oliver

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 8vo. In good condition, folded once. Headed ‘Private & Confidential’. Reads: ‘Dear Bob, / I had a word with the V. C [presumably the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University] this morning and am writing a letter to Sartain, which he should receive before the meeting of the G. B. on Wednesday. I hope something is done. / Yours ever / Oliver.’

[Rev. Anthony Egerton Brydges, son of Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges, proprietor of the Lee Priory Press.] Autograph Note Signed to John Sainsbury, regarding the ‘black cane’ he left at his house the day before.

Author: 
Rev. Anthony Egerton Brydges (1802-1849), editor of ‘The Literary Magnet’ with his father Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges] (1762-1837), author, bibliographer and proprietor of the Lee Priory Press
Publication details: 
20 May 1840; Webb’s Hotel, Piccadilly [London].
£45.00

1p, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Addressed on reverse of second leaf, with minuting and broken seal in red wax, ‘To / John Sainsbury Esqre / 35 Red Lion Square’. Reads: ‘Dear Sir, / It occurs to me that I left my black cane at your house when I was with you yesterday. If so, would you give it to the bearer of this note / Yr’s thankfully / A Egerton Brydges’.

[Lilian Gish, greatest Hollywood actress of the silent era.] Typed Letter Signed to ‘Miss Murchison’, on a visit to England, praising ‘the courage and uncomplaining patience’ of its ‘brave’ people during the ‘long and dreadful’ years of war.

Author: 
Lillian Gish (1883-1993), greatest Hollywood actress of the silent era, ‘The First Lady of American Cinema’
Publication details: 
6 August 1946; on letterhead of the Savoy Hotel, London.
£100.00

2pp, 12mo. Twenty-one lines of text. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘Lilian Gish’. Begins: ‘Dear Miss Murchison, | I was so touched by your very sweet letter which was handed to me by the BBC just before we went on the air. / It is heartwarming to come back to England after these long and dreadful years and find that our film friends have not forgotten us.

[Lord Charles Beresford, Royal Navy admiral and British Member of Parliament.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Charles Beresford’) to Sir Richard Temple, regarding the ‘grievance’ of General Sir Henry Ramsay over his pension.

Author: 
Lord Charles Beresford [Admiral Charles William de la Poer Beresford, 1st Baron Beresford] (1846-1919), British admiral [Sir Richard Temple (1826-1902); General Sir Henry Ramsay (1816-1893)]
Publication details: 
7 November 1888; on letterhead of 100 Eaton Square, S.W. [London]
£56.00

See the entries for Beresford and Temple in the Oxford DNB (in an unfortunate omission, Ramsay - ‘The King of Kumaon’ - is not represented in that work). 3pp, 12mo. Ruckled, with second leaf laid down on a piece of card, and damage along the gutter repaired with archival tape. Twenty-nine lines of text. Signed ‘Charles Beresford’. He has received ‘a long explanatory letter from General Sir Henry Ramsey [sic] containing the explanation of a grievance by which he has lost £300 a year since 1884.

[Joseph Cotten, Hollywood and Broadway actor.] Signed Autograph Inscription ‘For John’.

Author: 
Joseph Cotten [Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr.] (1905-1994), Hollywood and Broadway actor, associated with Orson Welles, in whose ‘Citizen Kane’ he starred
Cotton
Publication details: 
1947; no place.
£35.00
Cotton

On 16 x 14 cm leaf of green paper, with rounded outer edges, torn from autograph album. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: ‘For / John / With every good wish, / Joseph Cotten / 1949’. Above the inscription has been laid down a photograph of Cotten cut from a newspaper. See image

[Irving Wardle, theatre critic.] Autograph Letter Signed to Gerald Wynne-Rushton, giving advice on offering a play, with reference to a letter he has received from Emyr Humphreys, producer of BBC TV production of Saunders Lewis’s ‘Siwan’.

Author: 
Irving Wardle [John Irving Wardle] (born 1929), theatre critic and champion of Harold Pinter [Gerald Wynne-Rushton (1894-), Catholic writer]
Publication details: 
16 March [no year, but between 1960 and 1963]; on letterhead of the Observer, London.
£45.00

Wardle worked as Kenneth Tynan’s deputy on the Observer between 1959 and 1963. Wynne-Rushton had published a play titled ‘The Gull’s Way’ in 1930, and a book on the papacy for Catholic publishers Burns, Oates and Washburne two years later. 2pp, 4to. In fair condition, folded three times, with wear and loss along one fold line of the second leaf, resulting in loss of a few words of text. Signed ‘Irving Wardle’ and addressed to ‘Dear Mr. Rushton’, identified as G. W. Wynne-Rushton by associated correspondence.

[Henry Hall, Director of the BBC Dance Orchestra.] Coloured Lithographic portrait of him, in colours, with original Autograph Signature.

Author: 
Henry Hall [Henry Robert Hall] (1898-1989), Director of the BBC Dance Orchestra
Henry Hall
Publication details: 
The print: ‘Presented with “Radio Pictorial,” No. 1, January 19, 1934’.
£45.00
Henry Hall

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 20 x 25 cm lithograph in pink, white and black. In good condition, lightly aged. An attractive item, suitable for framing. Head and shoulders portrait of a dapper bespectacled Hall, with parted greased hair, in white tie, staring at the viewer. Across his shirt, Hall has written in green ink ‘Best Wishes / Henry Hall’. Captioned at bottom left: ‘HENRY HALL / DIRECTOR, B.B.C. DANCE ORCHESTRA’; and at bottom right: ‘Presented with “Radio Pictorial,” / No. 1, January 19, 1934’. See image.

[Cardinal Antonelli, Roman Catholic cleric and Italian politician: the ‘Italian Richelieu’ and the ‘Red Pope’.] Autograph Note in Italian in the third person, wishing ‘Mademoiselle Rushent’ prosperity.

Author: 
Cardinal Antonelli [Giacomo Antonelli] (1806-1876), Roman Catholic cleric whose machinations in Italian politics earned him the soubriquets the ‘Italian Richelieu’ and the ‘Red Pope’
Antonelli
Publication details: 
2 February 1899; Rome. On his embossed armorial letterhead.
£120.00
Antonelli

Six lines, in original envelope, very good condition. ‘Il Cardinale Antonelli’ presents his compliments to her, and ‘egli desidera dal [?] di prosperità’. See image.

[Felix Eugen Fritsch, Professor and Head of Botany, Queen Mary College, University of London.] Autograph Note SIgned F.E. Fritsch to Crow.

Author: 
Felix Eugen Fritsch (1879–1954), algologist, Professor and Head of the Botanical Department, Queen Mary College, University of London, from 1911-1948
Publication details: 
3 June 1929; on letterhead of the Department of Botany, East London College, Mile End Road, E1. [London]
£38.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient is William Bernard Crow, and the work referred to in the letter is his University of London thesis, presumably written under Fritsch’s supervision. 1p, 4to. Aged and creased, with chipping to edges. Folded three times. Good firm signature at foot: ‘F. E. Fritsch’. He thanks him for the copy of his book on “Contributions to the Principles of Morphology”, which he hopes to read ‘when the present rush dies down’. He hopes he is ‘getting on well at Huddersfield’.

[Harry Plunket Greene, Irish baritone singer.] Autograph Signature and valediction cut from letter.

Author: 
Harry Plunket Greene (1865-1936), Irish baritone singer
Greene
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£28.00
Greene

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On strip of paper, roughly 10 x 3.5 cm, cut into an irregular rectangular shape. On one side is the valediction: ‘Yours very sincerely / Harry Plunket Greene’. On the other a fragment of three lines of the letter: ‘[...] I hope no [...] / started that things [...] / go on well. I am part[...]’. See image.

[Anthony Asquith, British film director.] Signed Autograph Inscription to Louis Frewen, of rHodes Hose Library, autograph collector..

Author: 
Anthony Asquith ['Puffin'] (1902-1968), film director ('The Winslow Boy', 'The Browning Version', 'Pygmalion') and aesthete, son of Liberal Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and socialite Margot Asquith
Asquith
Publication details: 
December 1931. No place.
£45.00
Asquith

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. In good condition, with light dabs of glue from mount on reverse. On 11.5 x 9 cm card with rounded edges. Clearly in response to a request for an autograph, he writes: 'For Louis Frewen / with all good wishes / from / Anthony Asquith / December 1931'.

[Admiral Jellicoe, Commander of the Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland.] Autograph Note Signed (‘J’) to ‘Col Crosfield’, regarding a ‘sad case’ which needs to be ‘taken up by Mr Webb’. With explanatory note in another hand.

Author: 
Admiral Jellicoe [Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe] (1859-1935), commander of Grand Fleet at Battle of Jutland
Jellicoe
Publication details: 
No date or place [circa 1928, according to accompanying note].
£90.00
Jellicoe

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 14.5 x 6 cm rectangle of air mail paper, cut from the head of a letter, on which Jellicoe’s note is clearly a comment. In good condition, lightly aged, folded once. Typed at foot of slip: ‘Thomas Butler - Meadow Cottage, Bank Road, Dawly, Salop.’ Above this, towards the right, Jellicoe writes in a close hand: ‘Col Crosfield / This is a sad case, & seems “attributable”. Can the case be taken up by Mr Webb.

[‘Ellis Peters’, pseudonym of Edith Pargeter, author of the ‘Brother Cadfael’ crime novels.] Autograph Signature, with pseudonym: ‘Edith Pargeter. / ‘Ellis Peters’.’

Author: 
‘Ellis Peters’, pseudonym of Edith Mary Pargeter (1913-1995), author of the ‘Brother Cadfael’ crime novels
Ellis Peters
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£85.00
Ellis Peters

On one side of a 12.5 x 8.5 cm piece of thin white card. Clearly given in response to a request for an autograph. Written in a large somewhat old-fashioned hand, with ‘Edith Pargeter.’ centred towards the head of the page, and ‘‘Ellis Peters’.’ at bottom right. See image.

[‘Another lunatic!’ Spencer Leigh Hughes, Liberal politician and journalist.] Autograph Note Signed to ‘Armstrong’ regarding a critic of his use of the word ‘British’.

Author: 
Spencer Leigh Hughes (1858-1920), Liberal politician, journalist (the 'Sub Rosa' of the Morning Leader) and engineer.
Publication details: 
20 November 1904; on letterhead of the Morning Leader, Stonecutter Street, London.
£38.00

Hughes began as a journalist, writing the popular column ‘Sub Rosa’ in the Morning Leader, before descending from the Press Gallery onto the floor of the House of Commons. However short, the present item gives a faint echo of the verve for which he was renowned as a backbencher and after-dinner speaker. 1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. Signed ‘Spencer Leigh Hughes’. Reads: ‘Dear Armstrong / Another lunatic! There are many about. I was lecturing in Scotland recently & had quite an ovation when I talked about the “British” parliament.’

[Thomas Moore, Ireland’s national poet before Yeats, destroyer of his friend Lord Byron’s memoirs.] Autograph Signature on valediction cut from letter for autograph hunter.

Author: 
Thomas Moore (1779-1852), Ireland’s national poet before Yeats, famed for his ' Irish Melodies', who destroyed his friend Lord Byron’s memoirs
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 11 x 5.5 cm rectangle cut from the foot of a letter. In fair condition, aged and lightly creased, with traces of glue from mount adhering to the blank reverse. Folded once. Reads: ‘Yours in great haste, / most cordially / Thomas Moore’. See image.

[William Govett Romain, as Second Secretary to the Admiralty.] Autograph Signature (‘W. G. Romaine’) with accompanying text filling in printed 'communication' appointing William Mullice ‘Gunner, 2d Class, Additional’ on board HMS Cumberland.

Author: 
W. G. Romaine [William Govett Romaine] (1815-1893), English barrister, civil servant and colonial administrator [William Mullice]
Publication details: 
11 April 1861; on board ‘H.M.S. “Excellent” / WW Portsmouth.’
£80.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, tall 8vo. In fair condition, lightly aged; folded twice. In the following transcription the manuscript parts are in square brackets: ‘By Command of the Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, &c.

[William Harrison Ainsworth, Victorian historical novelist and close friend of Charles Dickens.] Autograph Signature for an autograph hunter: ‘W. Harrison Ainsworth | Dunmow. | July 19th. 1855.’

Author: 
W. Harrison Ainsworth [William Harrison Ainsworth] (1805-1882), Victorian historical novelist and close friend of Charles Dickens
Publication details: 
19 July 1855; Dunmow [Essex].
£45.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 16 x 10 cm rectangle cut from leaf of an autograph album. On lightly aged wove paper, with crease to one corner avoiding the writing. Boldly written: ‘W. Harrison Ainsworth / Dunsnow. / July 19th. 1855.’ Nothing else written on either side of the leaf. See image.

[Sir William Stirling Maxwell, art historian and book collector.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Mr. Dean’ (i.e. Henry Hart Milman, Dean of Saint Paul’s), regarding the drafting of their dissent to the parliamentary ‘Report of the Oaths Commission’.

Author: 
Sir William Stirling Maxwell (1818-78), 9th Baronet of Pollok, Scottish author, art historian, book collector [Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868), Dean of St Paul’s; Edward Pleydell Bouverie; Lord Lyveden]
Publication details: 
6 June 1867. On embossed letterhead of the House of Commons Library.
£50.00

See the entries on the two men in the Oxford DNB. The document to which Stirling Maxwell refers in this letter can be read as ‘Dissent (No. III.)’ on pp.xiii to xxii of the parliamentary ‘Report of the Oaths Commission. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty.’ (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1867). There were five dissenters to the report: alongside Stirling Maxwell and Milman were Robert Lowe, Lord Lyveden, and Edward Pleydell Bouverie. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with traces of glue from mounting to blank reverse of second leaf.

[Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease, Liberal politician and industrialist.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘Joseph W Pease’) to ‘Dale’, noting the ‘happy’ state of England and improved governance of London, on the opening of the Darlington Junior Liberal Club.

Author: 
Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease (1828-1903), Liberal politician, Quaker industrialist and banker.
Publication details: 
19 April 1884; from Hotel de Luxembourg, Nimes; on letterhead of 24 Kensington Palace Gardens, W. [London]
£80.00

4pp, 12mo. Fifty lines of neatly-written text, addressed to ‘My Dear Dale’. On bifolium. In good condition, with creases from being folded into a packet. Minuted by recipient at head of first page. He is sorry that his ‘continued absence abroad’ will prevent him from attending the formal opening of ‘the Committee of the Darlington Junior Liberal Club’. He describes the ‘several reasons to look forward to the opening day as a very auspicious one’.

[Sir St Clair Thomson, surgeon and Professor of Laryngology at King’s College, London.] Autograph Letter Signed (‘St Clair Thomson’), declining to visit the Mansion House, but offering two guineas towards a subscription.

Author: 
Sir St Clair Thomson (1859-1943), surgeon and Professor of Laryngology at King’s College, London, and throat physician to King Edward VII
Publication details: 
25 January 1915; on letterhead of 64 Wimpole Street, W. [London] (‘TELEGRAMS “GLOTTIS, LONDON.”’)
£38.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 3pp, 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. The recipient’s name is uncertain (‘Knight Sladen’?) He is sorry that he is prevented from ‘coming to the Mansion House on Wedy’ by ‘the demands of practice’. The subject has his sympathy, ‘and, else, 2 Guineas if there is a subscription list & if small amounts be accepted’. He wonders whether his ticket might be used ‘by a patriotic sister & a friend!’ He asks him to simply send a post card ‘to say I may substitute their names for mine’.

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