MANUSCRIPT

See Sewell's entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, landscape 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. The letter reads: 'My dearest Annie | Eliza tells me you wanted a copy of the French Book. I am so glad I happen to have one by me. - for I want you to have it from me. Please accept the book with love. | Yours very affly | Elizabeth M Sewell | Bonchurch. July 13th. 1868'.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded once. He begins by informing the unnamed recipient that the reason for the delay in answering his letter is that Selous has 'just returned to this country from a trip to Hungary'. For his part, Selous will be 'very pleased if you will quote anything you like from my book, “Travel and Adventure in S. E. Africa”. He presumes that 'the publishers, to whom the book I suppose really belongs, will have no objection either, as to quote any passage from a book is to call attention to the book itself, which may result in the sale of a copy'.

2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged, with fold lines. Annotated up one margin: 'Writer of Travels &c'. Andersson writes: 'Dear Mr. Blackett, - | I enclose a literal translation of a paragraph extracted from one of the best Swedish newspapers, by which you will see that the King has honoured me with a medal. If you think that this paragraph may be of any use to you when advertising the 2d. Edition of “Lake Ngami”, it is quite at your service. Of course you may put it any [sic] language you may think proper. | Yours faithfully | Chs. J.

On slip of grey paper, roughly 4 x 13.5 cm. In fair condition, lightly aged, with traces of paper from mount adhering to the blank reverse. With two unobtrusive vertical fold lines. Reads: 'Kindest regards | Yours sincerely | Edward Lear.'

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged. He thanks her for remembering him and sending 'that splendid photograph of yourself – I really think it is the best I have seen'. He continues: 'I have been “slogging” away at water-colours for a shew in Manchester and so have kept pretty busy.' He is sending 'a Nile water colour to the New Gallery', and has sent 'an oil to the Academy – they are sure to kick it out so I shan't mind'. He hopes that she and her sister 'are all right' and 'enjoying this lovely weather'.

On 4 x 5.5 cm piece of paper. In good condition, laid down on square of paper cut from leaf removed from album. An uncommon signature and an unusual one, consisting of a single line in a series of up and down strokes, diminishing in height, tapering off to the right before returning for the underlining.

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged and grubby, with three folds. The letter reads: 'Dear Streatfield | it is no use sending me the Score of the Symphony here at present, as I am too busy to look at it properly, besides which, all my Programmes are definitely fixed till the end of the season, but if you will ask Mr. Hinton to send it to me to Hamilton Terrace (54, not 73) after Feby., when I shall be back in town, I shall be pleased to look through it.'

1p, 12mo. In fair condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Palace Dublin | Sept 28/74 | Madam | I send you the autograph which you desire. | Yr. obedt. Servt | Richd. C. Dublin | Miss Julia Glover'.

He asks Streatfeild to advise him in a matter 'which speaks for itself'. He reports that 'poor Lady Elgar is greatly distressed – and not without reason – at the treatment of the two great oratorios'. Phillips does not 'quite see what is to be done in the way of protest', although he finds that the 'statement that they “fail with audiences &c” is certainly false in fact, [last three words underlined] and therefore almost libellous'. Phillips considers 'the rest […] a matter of opinion. Perhaps even more false and absurd is the statement, or opinion, that they appeal only to the intellect.

2pp, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with lightly-rusted indentation from a paperclip. She thanks him for the 'lovely form of intrusion your letter proved to be - as though you could ever intrude!' She wonders whether, if she had been 'a more patient patient' the 'second attack' might not have happened' (a heart attack had forced her to retire from the stage), 'but I was never one for sitting and doing nothing'. She is 'trying very hard now as I have learnt my lesson'. She has 'so many interests that retirement is beginning to become a pleasure, thank heavens'.

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Reads: 'Lord Londonderry presents his compliments to Mr Watson and begs to forward to him a letter and book which he has been requested by Monsieur de Martens to present to His Majesty'. Londonderry was considered a repressive figure by the radicals. In a poem Byron called on travellers to piss on his grave, and in 'The Masque of Anarchy' Shelley wrote: 'I met murder on the way, | He had a mask like Castlereagh.' Within months of the present communication Londonderry would commit suicide.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. She asks Adams to inform her 'what day has been fixed for the Committee in the Vane Estate Bill' (in which she clearly has a family interest), continuing: 'When the Duke of Marlborough saw Mr Adam with Lord Redesdale last night he understood that Tuesday next was the day on which he was to be present in order to give his consent to the Bill; he has since heard from Mr. Wagstaff to say that Friday or the following Monday will be the earliest day on which the Bill can be committed.

From a batch of Foreign Office documents, including material from the Information Research Department (for whose activities, financed from the budget of the Special Intelligence Service, otherwise MI6, see The Times, 17 August 1995; and also Michael Cullis's obituary of Sir John Peck in the Independent, 20 January 1995). Duplicated typescript headed: '(c) The purpose of the United States agreement with SPAIN.' 4pp, foolscap 8vo, paginated '(c) 1' to '(c) 4'. Complete, with catchwords to the first three pages. In good condition, lightly aged.

On 1.75 x 6.25 cm slip of paper, laid down on part of leaf removed from album. In fair condition, lightly aged. Simply reads 'D Brewster'.

2pp, 16mo. Bifolium, with the letter on the recto of the first leaf, and a long postscript on the recto of the second. In good condition, lightly aged, folded twice. A friend of Charles Dickens and his circle, and physician to Queen Victoria's uncle Prince Leopold, Quin founded the London Homeopathic Hospital in 1849. The letter invites Quin to 'dine with us on Tuesday the 23rd. Inst at a quarter before seven o' clock'. The pith is in the two postscripts: 'P.S.

The Mau Mau uprising began in 1952, and the atrocities committed by the rebels were matched by those of the British, whose Attorney General in Kenya, Eric Griffith-Jones, wrote to Governor Baring in 1957 that the colony's detention camps for Mau Mau suspects were 'distressingly reminiscent of conditions in Nazi Germany or Communist Russia'.

From a batch of Foreign Office documents, including material from the Information Research Department (for whose activities, financed from the budget of the Special Intelligence Service, otherwise MI6, see The Times, 17 August 1995; and also Michael Cullis's obituary of Sir John Peck in the Independent, 20 January 1995). Duplicated typescript. Headed: '(g) The measures which have been taken to establish the policy of APARTHEID in South Africa and its effect on the European, Indian and African communities.' 10pp, foolscap 8vo. Pagination on pp.2-10 preceded by '(g)'.

Two pages, 12mo, bifolium, good condition. "I am much obliged by your kindness in sending a copy of The Prinipality Oct. 6th. I have read it with great pleasure & hope your efforts will be crowned with success - I am glad to see that [elision] - while endeavouring to raise the standard of literature in Wales- you intend to maintain our Nationality [underlined] in the best sense of the word

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of mount adhering to one edge, folded several times. 'Mrs. Macready' in a contemporary hand at the head of the page. Written in a neat hand the letter reads: 'Mrs. Macready presents her compliments to Mr. Kenneth, - any Letters directed to Mr. Macready Theatre Royal Birmingham will find Mr. Macready until Saturday Morng. 24th Inst.'

2 x 20 cm slip of paper, cut from an autograph album (written on reverse: 'Prince & Princess Fleming of Denmark.'). In good condition, lightly aged. The two entries written neatly one above the other: 'Chico Marx 9654 [Joadene?] dr. Beverly Hills. | Sam Marx 927 N. Rexford Dr., Beverly Hills, Cal.'

One page, cr. 8vo, fold marks, smudges (ink?), minor foxing and damage NOT affecting text. He thanks her for her letter, but apologises that "I do not feel able to come & criticize at the Sketch Club meeting in December. | I have just recently written [elision] letters refusing to give two lectures, & although a criticism is not exactly the the same, it's very similar - I am constantly being asked to give lectures & criticisms & if agree [sic] to do it for you I should have to accept others.

3pp, foolscap 8vo. On laid paper with watermark: 'GOLDING | & | SNELGROVE | 1811'. Aged and worn, with closed tears along folds, but with text complete and clear. The document includes two passages written in red ink which has faded but is still legible. The background to the present letter is given in Lambert's entry in the Oxford DNB: 'On 4 June 1813 Lambert was promoted major-general, and was appointed to a brigade of the 6th division. […] Having been sent to America, he joined the army under Sir Edward Pakenham below New Orleans on 6 January 1815, with the 7th and 43rd foot regiments.

De la Mare's definitive answer to the oft-asked question regarding the meaning of his best-known poem - and also one of the most celebrated English poems of the twentieth century - 'The Listeners'. 1p, 4to, in good condition, lightly aged, folded twice. After thanking her for her 'kind letter', he adds: 'I am afraid you may not find my answer to your question a very satisfactory one.

Lower half of a 4to leaf. In good condition, lightly aged, with stub from mount adhering. Written in old-fashioned, and not entirely grammatical, French, the text reads: '[…] de la nation Polonoise a la quelle S. M. donneroit le garanties necessaires, sous le respect de la stabilité des droits qu'elle réclame et qui sont fondés sur deux besoins absolus: la religion e le [sic] liberté. | A greez M. le M. l'assurance de plus [?] consideration avec la quelle je suis &c Varsovie 12 Mars 1831. | Skygnecki | Monsieur le Comte | Le Genenral Lt.

A highly interesting letter from a leading Victorian dramatic critic (Thomas describes himself in the letter as 'For five & twenty years [...] theatrical critic of the Daily news & the Graphic', who has 'served under at least thirteen editors') to a leading actor-manager (Hare was knighted in 1907), on the subject of alleged editorial pressure on Fleet Street's theatre critics. 4pp, 8vo. On four leaves. Aged and worn, but with text complete and clear.

4pp, 12mo. Bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn. Folded once. Addressed to 'J. H. Lorrimer [sic] Esq'. He begins emphatically: 'Dear Lorrimer [sic] | I wish to state clearly, that I do not Exhibit in the Paris Exn. next year and that you are not to try to get any Picture of mine to send there.!!! | I think it necessary to write this, after yesterday's over-much talk on my part I think.

1p, 12mo. In good condition, lightly aged, with small trace of glue from mount at foot. Folded twice. Reads: 'Dear Madam | I have much pleasure in complying with your request & beg to remain | Yours faithfully | Charlotte H Sainton Dolby'. See her entry in the Oxford DNB.

On one side of 9 x 14 cm leaf of cream paper. In good condition, lightly aged and worn. Reads: "'Sincerely Yours' | Very Lynn". A good, firm underlined signature, in a large sloping hand, with the words 'Sincerely Yours' in single quotation marks.

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, the blank reverse of the second leaf laid down on a leaf removed from an album. Written in a hurried hand, with the meaning unclear in parts. The letter would appear to discuss the republican and Carlist insurrections against Amadeo I, the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy, who replaced the deposed Isabella II in 1870, and reigned until 1873. Froude begins by explaining that his silence has been due to the fact that he has been 'out of town for the Summer'.

2pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He sends her belated thanks for her 'kind compliance with Mrs. Caird's request'. His wife has been very ill since he received her letter, but he believes that 'the critical stage of the disease is fairly over; & besides her illness, the death of an old servant, has left me little time to attend to other engagements'. Mrs Caird is 'much gratified' that Marshall is 'to share in management of her stall'.